
(lass QTSQ 

Book, X? 



Copyrighi N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The Disciple and His Lord : or 
Twenty-six Days with Jesus 



The Disciple and His 
Lord: or, Twenty-Six 
Days with Jesus 



By Rev. J. S. KIRTLEY, D. D. 

Author of "The Young Man," etc. 




Philadelphia 

American JBaptiet publication Society 

1630 Chestnut Street 
1906 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Conies Received 

JUL 17 »906 

C^oyrtctil Entry 
' COPY B. 



Copyright 1906 by the 
American Baptist Publication Society 



Published July, 1906 



jfrom tbe Society's own iprese 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 

These studies of the life and work of our Lord 
were first published in "Service," the organ of the 
Young People's Union, as a part of the sacred lit- 
erature course for 1 905-1 906. They were at the 
time found eminently helpful and attracted wide 
attention. It is hoped that in this more consecutive 
and permanent form they will win still greater favor 
and achieve for themselves an even wider field of 
usefulness. 

July 1, 1906. 



PROLOGUE 

SOURCES OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS 

There are three such sources and we may state 
them in the order of their increasing importance, as 
follows : 

I. Non-Christian Literature. The knowledge 
gained in this way is purely incidental, is very 
meager and would, by itself, give us no working 
conception of either the character or teachings of 
Jesus. Among Roman writers he receives very 
little attention, for the obvious reason that they 
would not know, nor care, what was going on in 
an obscure province such as Judea, and he did not 
become known in the world outside during his life- 
time. It was not till after his ascension that even 
his native land began to understand his real nature 
and significance. Had he lived in our times, biog- 
raphers and self-appointed press agents would have 
been busy in securing him a world-wide fame. 
Suetonius in his life of Claudius (Chap XXV.) 
speaks of the latter's edict expelling the Jews from 
Rome, and says, " Chrestus being the instigator " of 
the Jews in their disturbances. Like most of 
the Romans, he classed Jews and Christians together 
indiscriminately. Tacitus in his Annals (XV., 44) 
speaks of Christians as having " derived their name 



PROLOGUE 



and origin from one Christ, who in the reign of 
Tiberius had suffered death by the sentence of the 
procurator, Pontius Pilate." Pliny the younger, 
refers to the influence of Christ over the Christians 
of Bithynia in leading them " to bind themselves with 
an oath not to enter into any wickedness, or com- 
mit thefts, robberies, or adulteries; or falsify their 
word, or repudiate trusts committed to them," but 
he does not show any further knowledge of his 
history or character. 

Among Jewish writers we find Josephus, who 
says little about Jesus, though it would seem that he 
must have known a great deal. In Book XVIII., 
Chap. III., and section 3, there is an appreciative 
paragraph about him, but its genuineness has been 
questioned. In another paragraph he refers indi- 
rectly to Jesus, in discussing the character and death 
of John the Baptist (Book XVIII., Chap. V., section 
2). He says that many people thought the defeat of 
Herod's army by his father-in-law, Aretas, was a 
punishment for his treatment of John. In Book XX., 
Chap. IX. and section 1, he tells how Sebinus, the 
successor of Festus as procurator of Judea, " as- 
sembled the Sanhedrin of judges and brought before 
them the brother of Jesus who was called Christ, 
whose name was James, and some others," whom he 
caused to be stoned to death. The reasons for his 
silence are plain. He could not have said more of 
Jesus without approving him and that would have 
offended his fellow- Jews. Born at Jerusalem, a. d. 



PROLOGUE 



2,7 or 38, he became a rigid Pharisee and afterwards 
affected Roman habits, as a courtier in Rome. He 
would also offend his Roman patrons by having 
much good to say of Christ. 

2. The Acts and Epistles. The Acts being the 
account of what Jesus continued to do on earth 
after his departure, we are not surprised to find 
light thrown back upon his earthly life. The 
Epistles were written to expound and expand 
and apply the teachings of Jesus and, of course, 
would recall his life and character. Some of 
the other Scriptures were written by authors of 
the Gospels; some were written before the Gos- 
pels ; all took for granted the facts and teach- 
ings subsequently written in the Gospels; all are a 
commentary on the Christ of the Gospels ; some use 
material not found in the Gospels. Paul alone tells 
us that Jesus appeared to James and to the " five 
hundred brethren at once." He throws special light 
on Christ's pre-incarnate state in Phil. 2 : 5-1 1. He 
also quotes him as saying, " It is more blessed to give 
than to receive." These are merely suggestive quo- 
tations. The Acts and Epistles are an important 
source of information about Christ. 

3. The Four Gospels. These we find the ulti- 
mate sources of our knowledge. Several important 
facts are to be borne in mind: Jesus never wrote a 
word about himself or his teaching ; he never hinted, 
so far as we know, to any one that he wanted any- 
thing written ; no one undertook the task of writing 



PROLOGUE 



till many years after his ascension. Before any one 
of the Gospels was written, most of the Epistles were 
in use. The knowledge pre-supposed by the 
Epistles was gotten from eye-witnesses, but when 
almost all the eye-witnesses had passed away a need 
arose for the permanent preservation of the data at 
the basis of the Epistles and of the apostolic preach- 
ing. They did not feel the need of the Gospels as 
long as they had the living voice of those who knew 
the story, both because they preferred the oral form 
and because they did not care very much for books. 
Then, perhaps, they wished that some one had been 
appointed official biographer, to catch the words as 
they fell from our Lord's lips and write an account 
of his deeds, as they were enacted. But he had pro- 
vided a far better way. He had trusted the whole 
story to men who were accustomed to rely on their 
memory with perfect confidence. The memory of 
those who depend on it holds the details as well as 
the general outlines of events. Impressions are 
deepened so that recurring events do not obliter- 
ate them. Those who wrote the Gospels were thus 
equipped for their tasks. Besides, memory was 
steadily reinforced by the emotions with which they 
heard and saw and felt what they afterwards re- 
ported. Those emotions fixed the teachings and 
deeds ineffaceably in the memory. The Master was 
constantly repeating his teachings too, and many 
truths would assume a crystalline form. As Dawson 
says, " In the memories of such men, many a phrase 



PROLOGUE 



used by Jesus was embedded like a diamond in a bed 
of clay." His teachings and deeds would also be as- 
sociated with places and persons and events that 
would give clearness and vitality to the memory of 
them. 

The Master was giving them time to learn the 
meaning of it, through study and experience and the 
practical use of what they knew. He was also 
training them in the power to express properly, 
through oral teaching, what he had imparted. He 
gave them time to develop a clear sense of the needs 
of men and to be able to select the material suited 
to those needs. When the emergencies arose, they 
knew how to meet them. He also fulfilled a promise 
made before his death that the coming Spirit would 
quicken memory and lead them on farther into 
truth. When the time came to commit the story to 
writing, the very best possible arrangements had 
been made. Men were equipped with clear mem- 
ories, deep insight into truth, knowledge of the needs 
to be met, power to select what would meet the 
needs, skill in stating it and, best of all, the inspiring, 
directing presence of " the Spirit of truth." With- 
out knowing that they were being trained for it, they 
were ready for their task. Eye-witnesses were 
dying ; emergencies were developing in the growing 
community of believers ; the truth could no longer 
be entrusted to the living voice alone — it must be 
put into written form. 

And four men wrote the story. One could not 



PROLOGUE 



do it alone, for Christ is many-sided, and needs more 
than a single interpreter. Those are the two reasons 
for several Gospels. Why there are four has not 
been revealed, and we may not know all the reasons 
for it. But we are impressed with the sense of com- 
pleteness and thoroughness with which Jesus has 
been presented to us, from four points of view, by 
four types of men, for four general types of readers. 
One Gospel could never have carried the story 
everywhere, in that day; one Gospel would be re- 
jected in our day. Four Gospels were irresistible 
then; they are now. 

The four men did individual work and never even 
seem to have been working in collaboration or col- 
lusion. Each has his own point of view and his 
own constituency; each has his own personal prin- 
ciple of selection; each makes his own impression 
on the reader ; each seems entirely unconcerned as to 
whether he will agree with the others. Two of them 
were apostles — John and Matthew. One was a very 
young and immature disciple when the Master left — 
Mark. One was a converted Greek who never saw 
Jesus — Luke. 

The four Gospels were written years after the 
events, yet have the vividness of eye-witnesses. The 
first three use very much the same material, yet each 
one uses only what suits his purpose and he stamps 
his personality upon it. They drew it from practically 
the same sources — their personal memories, the com- 
mon memory, the subject-matter of their preaching 



PROLOGUE 



and conversation, and, most likely, from some pre- 
vious writings that sought to preserve the story. 
There was a common store from which each one 
drew. They did not aim at writing a complete his- 
tory, but at preserving those sayings and doings 
which were essential to the well-equipped disciple. 
They give a series of pictures and interpretations. 
The first three are called the Synoptic Gospels, be- 
cause they give a view of the same things, in the 
main. John is in a class by himself. All were writ- 
ten after many changes had taken place in what 
we might call the Christian world. Christianity had 
grown extensively over wide areas and widely differ- 
ing people. It had gathered into its fold a great 
mass of people — Jews, Greeks, Romans, scattered 
everywhere, with a great variety of other minor 
races. It had grown intensively, in well-articulated 
organizations, or churches, here and there, and sys- 
tems of benevolence, instruction, and evangelization. 
The system consisted partly in its lack of system. 
The Gospels were written with a clear knowledge of 
Christ, with a fine insight into existent conditions, 
and with experience that had converted that knowl- 
edge into life. A brief characterization of each Gos- 
pel may be added. 

( i ) Matthew. Matthew gives evidence quite clear 
that the author was Matthew the publican. The an- 
cient manuscripts bear his name and the Fathers all 
credit him with its authorship. He is not only a Jew, 
but has the Jewish point of view, showing familiarity 



PROLOGUE 



with Jewish lands, history, and Scriptures. His 
Jewish point of view and his constant use of the 
Jewish Scriptures indicate conclusively that he wrote 
for Jews, or Christians of Jewish birth. In Mat- 
thew's interpretation Jesus is preeminently the King 
— King according to the Scriptures; King by lin- 
eage ; King in character, speech, and deeds. Matthew 
is argumentative and he uses just so much of the 
material at his command as supports his argument. 
To summarize : he tells the Jews that Jesus is their 
true Messiah, anointed by God to be their King, and 
he proves it by showing the fulfilment of Scripture 
in Jesus; that when the nation rejected him, they 
sinned against the word and providence of God, and 
the teachings and warnings of their Messiah him- 
self; that their ancient privileges had been recalled 
from them and given to the Gentiles ; that his death 
had been a great " Messianic triumph " ; that he is 
now King of all men and not of the Jews alone ; that 
in order to be a true Jew one must follow Judaism 
to its logical conclusion and become a disciple of 
Christ. The ancient emblem of this Gospel is a 
man's head, symbolical of kingship — the Kingly 
Christ. 

(2) Mark. The consensus of opinion concerning 
Mark among modern scholars seems to be that Mark 
is the oldest of the four Gospels. The author was 
probably the John Mark of Acts. The Fathers so 
thought ; the ancient manuscripts bear his name ; the 
literary structure of the book harmonizes well with 



PROLOGUE 



that view. He shows familiarity with Hebrew life 
and customs, yet he seldom quotes the Hebrew 
Scriptures. The latter fact suggests that he wrote 
for non-Jewish readers. He was not an eye-wit- 
ness of Jesus' life and ministry, though he writes 
with the vividness of an eye-witness. That gives 
credibility to the claim of many of the Fathers that 
he gained most of his information from Peter. The 
latter must have had a most vivid and stirring re- 
membrance of Jesus, and Mark had a fine sympathy 
that caught his spirit. He probably wrote for 
Roman readers, and his own ardent, active tempera- 
ment united with the needs of his readers in leading 
him to write such a Gospel. Picturesque details and 
intense energy mark his work. In brief and breath- 
less narrative he introduces Christ in action, a living, 
achieving, triumphant Christ, just such a one as 
would capture the imagination of the active, tri- 
umphant Roman. He is emotional, like Peter, and 
gives a series of stirring pictures of Christ. The 
emblem of Mark's Gospel is the head of the lion — 
Jesus as a wonder-worker. 

(3) Luke. His writings are in two parts — the 
Gospel ; the "Acts." The prologues are similar, and 
disclose something of the purpose and method of the 
author. That Luke was the real author is the opin- 
ion of the early writers. The ancient manuscripts all 
bear his name. All the evidence for his authorship 
of " Acts " is evidence in this case. He was a Greek. 
Though familiar with Jewish history and lands and 



PROLOGUE 



Scriptures, he seems familiar with them chiefly as a 
student. Being a Gentile, he has a sense of the larger 
relationship of Jesus. He traces him back, not to 
his Jewish origin in Abraham, but to his human 
origin in Adam. He uses no Hebrew words; he 
chooses forms of speech most suited to Gentiles ; he 
says very little of the fulfilment of Scripture ; he re- 
fers often to outside political relationships. He 
shows Jesus in his largeness, not provincial, but 
cosmopolitan. He quotes those teachings, especially 
the parables, in which Jesus sets forth his universal 
relationship with men, and their wide brotherhood 
with each other. The ancient symbol of Luke's 
Gospel was the ox — Jesus as a servant of others. 
He wrote to a man named Theophilus, who is, 
without doubt, representative of a class, a Gen- 
tile class. He says that he had made a care- 
ful study of Christ's life. The sources of his 
study must have been the eye-witnesses whom he 
knew and sought out. He must have visited Mary and 
learned from her the events of his infancy and youth. 
He talked with disciples in Judea and Galilee and 
with those scattered through Gentile territory. He 
had access to all that had been written down — Mark's 
Gospel and Matthew's, and perhaps other writings 
not known to us. Indeed, it is thought that there 
was an earlier life of Christ preserving many details 
that are not in either Gospel and from those records 
all drew. There might have been many fragments of 
stories. The purpose of Luke was to present an 



PROLOGUE 



orderly account of Christ as the world's Redeemer. 
Many had written and he would likewise essay to 
write of the wondrous life. More in detail and with 
somewhat broader treatment than the others he ful- 
filled his task. We cannot fail to see in him a vivid 
portrayal of the Son of man. 

(4) John. John is in a class by himself. He states 
his purpose in 20 : 31 — "that ye might believe that 
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believ- 
ing ye may have life in his name." He writes from 
an exceptional knowledge of the inner nature of 
Christ. His mystical, poetical nature knew Christ's. 
His vision swept the eternities. He begins with 
Christ in his pre-incarnate life as the Revealer of the 
Father and traces him in his revelations of God in 
the flesh. Though a Jew, he writes for all. He 
brings in much that the synoptics omit, as, for in- 
stance, the early Judean ministry, the discourse on 
the bread of life, the controversies at Jerusalem at 
the feasts of Tabernacles and Dedication, before his 
death, and the raising of Lazarus. All of that would 
combat the heresies of his day and confirm drooping 
faith. His Gospel is supplementary to the synoptics. 
The eagle was the ancient symbol of this Gospel. He 
is the seer, the interpreter, and he enables the reader 
to see. 

These four writers unite in telling the most fasci- 
nating and potent story that mankind has ever 
heard ; they produce the most remarkable book ever 
written. The truths they set forth are of daily and 



PROLOGUE 



eternal importance. The power they exert is the 
power of God. The character they delineate is that 
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth. 



PERIOD OF PREPARATION 

From his birth, 5 B. c. to his temptation, January 27 A. D. 

1. Luke's careful investigation. Luke I : 1-4. 

2. The Word become flesh. John I : 1-18. 

3. Two genealogies. Matt. I : 1-17 ; Luke 3 : 23-38. 

4. The birth of John the Baptist foretold. Luke I : 5-25. 

5. The birth of Jesus foretold to Mary. Luke I : 26-38. 

6. The birth of Jesus foretold to Joseph. Matt. I : 18-25. 

7. Mary's visit to Elizabeth. Luke I : 39-56. 

8. The birth and desert life of John. Luke I : 57-80. 

9. The birth of Jesus. Luke 2 : 1-7. 

10. His birth announced to the shepherds. Luke 2 : 8-20. 

11. The circumcision. Luke 2:21. 

12. The presentation in the temple. Luke 2 : 22-39. 

13. Visit of the Eastern wise men. Matt. 2 : 1-12. 

14. The flight into Egypt. Matt. 2 : 13-18. 

15. The return to Nazareth. Matt. 2 : 19-23 ; Luke 2 : 39. 

16. His boyhood and youth. Luke 2 : 40-52. 

17. John's preparatory work. Matt. 3 : 1-12 ; Mark I : 

1-8 ; Luke 3 : 1-18. 

18. The baptism of Jesus. Matt. 3 : 13-15 ; Mark 1:9; 

Luke 3 : 21. 

19. His enduement for his work. Matt. 3 : 16, 17 ; Mark 

I : 10, II ; Luke 3 : 21-23. 

20. His testing in the wilderness. Matt. 4 : I-H; Mark 

I : 12, 13 ; Luke 4 : I-13. 



FIRST DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS BIRTH 
Matt, i, 2 ; Luke i to 2 : 20 

1. The Time. The monk Dionysius the Little, 
of Rome, about a. d. 526, introduced the method 
of reckoning time from "The year of our Lord," but 
he started with the wrong year. We still use that 
method, but must assign his birth to as early a date 
as 4 b. a, for Herod the Great died in April of that 
year and he was still living when Jesus was born. 
The Christmas festival was first celebrated in the 
fourth century, and December 25 was chosen as the 
day, seemingly because it was coincident with the 
old pagan festival of the winter solstice. Christ 
might have been born December 25, the shepherds 
might have been out at night with their flocks that 
late in the season, for even in more northern climates 
it is often balmy, and vegetation remains green as 
late as that. His birth may be approximately placed 
in the autumn of 5 b. c, and as we do not positively 
know the day or the year and likely never shall, we 
may as well say December 25, b. c. 5. 

2. The Place. It was in Bethlehem, the an- 
cestral home of the descendants of David. Jesus 
was born there by the purpose, the promise, and the 
providence of God. It was God's purpose that 



22 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

" Great David's greater son " should be born in 
David's city, for thus would his claim as David's 
son be better established and the continuity of his 
work with that of his great ancestor, who did so 
much to prepare the nation and the world for his 
coming, be felt by him and appreciated by others. 
It was by the promise of God for that very reason, 
and also because it would make the promise of the 
Saviour more attractive to the people. Their ex- 
pectation of a Saviour was all the brighter and more 
cheerful for being connected with the places and per- 
sons that aroused happy and inspiring memories. 
Then too, it would enable them to identify him 
more promptly and perfectly. Of Bethlehem it was 
said, " Out of thee shall he come forth unto me that 
is to be ruler in Israel." 

It was brought about by the providence, or well- 
laid plan, of God. We may distinguish at least three 
forces through which God worked out that purpose : 
the decree of Caesar Augustus that a census be taken 
for purposes of taxation; the reverent and law- 
abiding spirit of Joseph and Mary that rendered 
prompt obedience to that decree ; the Jewish love of 
ancestral homes that led them to enroll themselves at 
Bethlehem. Herod may have given the order that 
the census be taken in that manner, or the Jews 
themselves may have done it voluntarily. Mary, 
cherishing the great promise which the angel had 
made, and prompted by her own natural aspirations, 
must have wished her son to be born there, rather 



FIRST DAY 23 



than up in Nazareth, for she knew that prophecies 
were to be fulfilled and that he must be recognized 
as of David's family. 

This census was made, according to Luke (2 : 2), 
" when Quirinius was governor of Syria." Varus 
was formally the governor, but Quirinius was in 
Cilicia, near by, putting down a rebellion about that 
time, and was no doubt " looked upon as represent- 
ing for the time the power of the Roman arms," and 
must have been representative extraordinary of 
Rome in compelling her subject provinces to take 
the census. Thus the Roman emperor was uncon- 
sciously contributing to the fulfilment of God's 
promises to his people. 

3. The Strategic Moment. That was the best 
time in all history for his coming. The moment had 
not arrived before. God was ready to send his Son 
sooner, but the conditions were not ready for him. 
The conditions must contribute to two ends — the 
effectiveness of his work while here, and the procla- 
mation of the gospel after his departure. An earlier 
advent would have been premature, for the Jews 
might have rendered his work less effective, whereas 
there was such rivalry between the two warring sects 
that he was fairly safe. Later, the time would have 
been over-ripe, for he might then have been taken 
for the founder of a new Jewish sect and his cause 
have suffered for centuries on account of it. Keep- 
ing both of these ends in view, we will consider the 
preparation that had been made for his coming. 



24 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

(i) Preparation by Exhaustion. Every means 
for doing without a Saviour had been tried and no 
answer to the question, " How can I get rid of my 
sins ? " had been found. The three typical nations, 
Greek, Roman, and Hebrew, were suffering from 
moral exhaustion, and, as Prof. Ramsay of Aber- 
deen says, " The world was ripe for the perfect idea, 
and offered then, and only then, the needed period 
of peace for absorbing the teaching of Christ under 
the unity of the great empire, when the world lay 
exhausted after the failure of all other experiments." 
The Greeks glorified knowledge, wisdom, art, and the 
culture of these. The intellect unfolded its highest 
powers first among them. But religion was de- 
graded as an instrument of art, philosophy, and lust ; 
the glorification of culture made the people superfi- 
cial and finally sensual. Law and administration re- 
ceived highest development among the Romans. But 
their view of power made the Romans heartless and 
Nero, their emperor, was at once " a priest, an 
atheist and a god," as were most of their emperors. 
Unrest and longing, dissatisfaction with heathen re- 
ligions and a conviction of their failure were undis- 
guised. Conscience was more distinctly in com- 
mand among the Hebrews and a special religious 
training had been given them. But ceremonial often 
made them self-righteous and therefore cruel, even 
though they were taught to have faith in a coming 
Saviour. 

Among the Jews were Pharisees, which means 



FIRST DAY 25 



" Separatists." They had separated themselves 
from the liberal party under John Hyrcanus a 
hundred years before Jesus, opposing all foreign al- 
liances and contending for a strict and literal ob- 
servance of the law. In situations which the Old 
Testament law had not dealt with, they had authori- 
tative interpretations, which were known as " the 
traditions of the fathers." Beginning with great zeal 
for the wish of God as expressed in his law, they 
soon drove out the living, loving God from their 
hearts and substituted the minute regulations of 
their former rabbis. The most talented and influ- 
ential among them became scribes and lawyers — that 
is, those who made copies of the law and interpreted 
it. They learned to twist the law to their own ad- 
vantage, and thus became self-righteous, dishonest, 
domineering, cruel, vindictive. 

The Sadducees formed the other strong party, who 
might have taken their name from Zadok, the priest 
in Solomon's time. They were worldly, wealthy, 
aristocratic, with very little concern for religion, 
very few positive, but plenty of negative, views, 
Jewish agnostics, who denied the existence of angels 
and the resurrection of the dead. They were out for 
the spoils of office, and managed to get good ap- 
pointments from the Roman government, for they 
kept the office of high priest in their hands most of 
the time. They scorned the narrow-minded Phari- 
sees for their bigotry and pretensions. 

Some of the Pharisees carried their ideas of " sep- 



26 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

aration " so far as to become a little party by them- 
selves, called " Essenes," an ascetic, reverent, in- 
dustrious class, most of whom lived in monasteries 
near the Dead Sea. 

There was another little secular party, mostly 
time-servers, who were in favor of the claims of the 
Herod family, and were therefore called Herodians. 

Among the people, most of whom followed the 
Pharisees, were a few devout souls who saw the 
moral decay and were looking for help from on high. 
Moral exhaustion marked human life, far and near. 

(2) Preparation by Expectation. The Jewish 
nation expected him. They were called into national 
existence in order to prepare a place and a people to 
receive him, and that expectation had been organized 
into their life, national and individual. To be sure, 
they had perverse ideas of his character and mission, 
thinking he was to come only for their sakes, when 
in truth they were to receive him for all mankind 
as well as for themselves. Repeated promises by the 
prophets and repeated disasters through the cen- 
turies trained that expectation. Within the nation 
were sensitive and spiritual souls, here and there, 
whose hearts the finger of God was touching with 
special longing and confidence. Among them were 
Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth ; Mary, even before 
the angel told her of the favor in which heaven held 
her ; Simeon and Anna, who were prophets ; the 
fishermen, from whose homes came four of the 
apostles; others who recognized Jesus as the long- 



FIRST DAY 27 



expected Messiah. When the angel announced his 
near advent to Zacharias and to Elizabeth and to 
Mary and to Joseph and to the shepherds, they were 
expecting the Messiah. When Simeon and Anna 
saw the child in the temple they knew that he was 
the Lord's Anointed. There was a hush of expect- 
ancy in reverent souls, spreading from tribe to tribe 
and from family to family, till every mother thought 
that perhaps her infant son might prove to be the 
deliverer, and therefore childlessness was regarded 
as a calamity. 

In other nations that expectation was cherished. 
The promise of a Messiah was at first made to all 
and he was for all the children of Adam. The tradi- 
tion of his coming was cherished by many Gentiles. 
Besides, God's Spirit was brooding over the world 
and touching noble souls to higher hopes. The Jews 
had told to other nations the story of their hopes, and 
that stirred similar hopes. Tacitus, Suetonius, and 
Josephus say that in the lands from which the wise 
men came to see the infant Jesus there was an ex- 
pectation of a great king who would arise in Judea 
to bless the world. Dr. W. J. Dawson says : " The 
vibration of an immense hope ran through the 
world; the wind of dawn was already breathing 
through the darkness." 

(3) Preparation by Arrangement. God had all his 
plans made for the rapid spread of the good news. 

a. Jews were living all over the world, dispersed 
through various captivities and migrations. They 



28 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

were in an expectant mood; would quickly get the 
news through attendance at the festivals at Jeru- 
salem; would be more hospitable to it than if they 
lived in Judea ; would tell the Gentiles around them ; 
would co-operate with the missionaries when they 
came, later on. 

b. There were thousands of proselytes from the 
Gentiles, who would take one step more and be- 
come Christians. They were a half-way house in 
preaching to the Gentiles. They had found in 
Israel's God a Father, a Saviour and a relief from 
the awful vices of heathenism. Many people of cul- 
ture and influence — especially women — had been at- 
tracted to the Hebrew religion, which was more 
spiritual and less formal among them than in Jewish 
territory. 

c. The missionaries would find houses of worship 
in which to preach — the synagogues of the Jews, 
where they assembled every Sabbath for worship 
and study, and would welcome those who had news 
about the Messiah. 

d. There was also a language in which they could 
preach anywhere. Three hundred years before, 
when Alexander overran large parts of Asia and 
Africa, he left behind him the rarest treasure, the 
Greek language, and it was spoken everywhere 
where the missionary went with the gospel. So he 
need not stop to learn a new language. 

e. It was a time of peace, suitable for the coming 
of the " Prince of Peace." The temple of Janus at 



SECOND DAY 29 



Rome had been shut thirty years; the missionary 
could travel in safety. As quoted above from Profes- 
sor Ramsay, the world was in a pacific mood, pre- 
pared to absorb the teachings of the Peacemaker. 

/. There was a high degree of religious liberty, 
for Rome patronized all religions and guaranteed 
all her citizens in their rights. Several times the 
Apostle Paul successfully appealed to Rome for pro- 
tection in his rights. 

g. Facilities for travel were furnished in those 
wonderful Roman roads. God had all things ready. 

4. The Interested Observers. The wise men, 
representing the world's expectancy and the Spirit's 
wide kindness; the shepherds, whose simplicity is 
found to be an opportunity; Simeon and Anna, in 
whom faith and fidelity have God's rewards ; Herod, 
who is too brutal to know virtue or allow it. 

Thus the greatest event in the history of the world 
had taken place. A new force had come among men. 



SECOND DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS FIRST VISIT TO THE TEMPLE 
Matt. 2 ; Luke 2 : 40-32 

I. The One Glimpse of His Boyhood. Only 
once between his infancy and his baptism do the 
Scriptures lift the curtain that conceals his growing 
life ; only once does his voice break for us the silence 
of those thirty years. 



30 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

It was in one of the chambers in the temple area, 
where learned rabbis taught their disciples, the 
teachers themselves seated around and the pupils on 
lower benches or on the floor, literally " at the feet " 
of their masters. Enjoying the freedom allowed be- 
tween masters and pupils, he was startling them with 
strange, deep questions and with still more mar- 
velous answers to questions raised for discussion. 
He was not forward nor self-conscious, provoked no 
resentment, and yet stirred them to anxious wonder. 
There his mother found him, after missing him from 
the company, homeward bound, and returning in 
anxiety to search for him. To her somewhat heated 
question why he had treated them so, his calm and 
kind reply was : " How is it that ye sought me ? 
Know ye not that I must be in my Father's house ? " 

There are other reports of incidents and words 
from those silent years, but they are all mere tradi- 
tions, spurious and slanderous. Curiosity would be 
wondering and credulity would be ready to believe 
falsehoods. There were gifted impostors ready to 
gratify curiosity and play on credulity. Irreverent 
and blasphemous imagination constructed fables, 
making his childhood unnatural and even vicious. 
They represent him as doing all kinds of silly, whim- 
sical, selfish, and even vindictive things — molding 
birds out of clay and making them fly; carrying 
water in his mantle when his pitcher was broken; 
striking one deaf and another blind, in sheer anger ; 
changing children into kids, in whimsical pique. 



SECOND DAY 3 I 



Such stories are in marked contrast with the discreet 
and delicate silence of the Scriptures and with his 
own normal life. We have two statements by Luke: 
" And the child grew and waxed strong, filled with 
wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him " 
(2 : 40) ; " and Jesus advanced in wisdom and stat- 
ure and in favor with God and men " (2 : 52). His 
was a normal childhood — the only perfectly normal 
childhood ever known on earth. 

2. The Meaning of This Visit. At twelve years 
every Jewish boy became a " son of the law " and as- 
sumed his full obligation to the law. An Oriental 
boy is as matured in his thirteenth year as a Western 
boy in his fifteenth. The father was expected to at- 
tend at least one of the great festivals at Jerusalem 
every year — Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles — 
and the son signalized his entrance on the new epoch 
in his life by attending a festival in his new capacity 
of " son of the law." Modern psychology teaches 
us that at that time the social instincts awake and the 
boy begins to discover his wide relationships and 
duties. God's arrangements always have profound 
reasons. 

3. Marvelous Maturity Revealed. It was mar- 
velous because it was the mark of a normal growth. 
Growth comes from the action and reaction between 
one's self and his environment, and in every case de- 
pends on two things — the elements in the environ- 
ment adapted to train him, and his use of those ele- 
ments. If the environment could be perfectly suited 



32 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



to that purpose and could be perfectly used, one's 
growth would be perfect. Such was the case with 
Jesus as he grew in wisdom and stature. 

( i ) Note the place where he was reared. God se- 
lected it above all other places, and by his provi- 
dence led Joseph and Mary to settle there. They 
had seemed to be inclined to settle in Bethlehem 
or somewhere in Judea, for sentimental reasons, 
but that plan was frustrated. When " wise men " 
were led by the star from the East to seek the 
new-born king of the Jews, they naturally came to 
Herod, the king, for information. Though they 
knew it not, their inquiry stirred his dark and jealous 
nature to the depths, and when he instructed them 
to report to him on finding the child, he really 
wanted to murder him. He was a brilliant ad- 
venturer, son of the Idumean Antipater; had been 
appointed king of Judea by Caesar; had married 
Mariamne, a Jewess, of the famous Maccabean fam- 
ily ; had shown great astuteness, especially in spend- 
ing forty-six years rebuilding the temple ; had grown 
more and more ambitious, cunning, and cruel; had 
tried to secure his throne and peace of mind by kill- 
ing every one who aroused fear or distrust — his wife, 
her mother and brother, his uncle, three sons, and 
many others outside his family. He thought this 
king of the Jews would prove a new rival, and when 
the wise men foiled his crafty plan to kill the young 
child, he ordered that all male children in Bethlehem, 
under two years of age, should be slain. 



SECOND DAY 33 



But Joseph and Mary saved the life of Jesus by 
fleeing to Egypt at a warning from God. On their 
return, after the death of Herod, they seem to have 
purposed to settle in Judea, but fearing that Arche- 
laus might continue his father's policy, they were 
guided back to Nazareth and there made their 
home. The place was God's selection in carrying 
out his wise purpose. No other place on earth was 
as good a home for the Messiah, not even Jerusalem. 
There he would find a better contact with nature; 
with human nature, in its great variety, both Jewish 
and non- Jewish ; with the learning which he must 
master; with God, whom he must learn and under- 
stand as Father. 

(2) Note the persons by whom he zuas trained. 
All culture of a person is by contact with persons, 
even that culture which nature and books and works 
of art give. 

Look at the persons in his home and how they 
helped to train him. There was first of all, Mary, 
his mother. As God selected her among all the 
women then living, she must have been best fitted 
for the office of mother to the Messiah. She had a 
great nature, greatly trained — religious, as shown 
in her reverence for sacred persons, acquiescence in 
God's will and joy in her painful honors; intel- 
lectual and refined, even poetical, as seen in her ex- 
alted song of grateful praise; cultured in Hebrew 
learning, as her training of Christ shows ; patriotic, 
for her song as well as her life exhibits it. She was 



34 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

not supernatural, but she made him a heavenly home 
in Nazareth. She taught him the Scriptures and 
many of the lessons of life. 

Next is Joseph. Four traits of his powerfully told 
on the marvelous Boy — industry in his calling, for 
he was a carpenter; justice, that required honor, 
both in himself and in every other member of his 
family; tenderness and sympathy that entered into 
their conditions ; courage, as seen in identifying him- 
self with Mary and Jesus in the sorrows of the in- 
carnation, before the face of an evil-thinking and 
evil-speaking world. He was the best guardian on 
earth for Jesus. He taught him a trade and other- 
wise trained him. 

There were brothers and sisters in the home. The 
brothers were four: Joses, Simon, James, and Jude 
(Mark 6:3), the last two of whom wrote New 
Testament epistles. Not till after his resurrection 
did they believe him to be the Messiah. As Dr. 
Rhees says, " They did not understand his ways nor 
appreciate the deepest realities of his life." That 
would tend to produce irritation and isolation, but 
it really afforded him a fine training in sympathy, as 
he sought to get their point of view, and in self- 
mastery, in the face of their criticism of his ways 
and habits. 

Thus the home, through its persons, its teachings, 
its testings, its toils, was training him. 

And outside of the home were teachers. They 
were in the synagogue, training him as they studied 



SECOND DAY 35 



the Scriptures and worshiped together. They were 
in the school, most likely held in the synagogue, 
where he probably went from the time he was six 
till he was twelve years old. There he was taught 
the Scriptures, with their thrilling history, majestic 
laws, comforting poetry and inspiring prophecy, and 
also taught reading and writing. His memory was 
stored and his powers of mind disciplined. Professor 
Ramsay says that the Jews were far in advance of 
the Greeks in national education as well as moral 
progress. They led the world in a broad, deep, real 
system of education. He says " the Hebrew nation 
was at that time the most highly educated people in 
the world — in the true meaning of the word educa- 
tion." He found teachers among his neighbors. 
Through them his social life was unfolded and his 
power of self-control promoted, for they under- 
stood him no better than his brothers and sisters did. 
Strangers from many countries passed through the 
valley of Esdraelon, near Nazareth, and their lan- 
guages, costumes, habits, callings, ideas, religions, 
histories and relationships to the Jews would all give 
him valuable information and lead him into a sense 
of his wide relationship to human life as the " Son 
of Man." 

He felt the influence of the State both on its Jew- 
ish and Roman sides as through its officials he looked 
back to the divine ideals of government and saw that 
all in authority were there as God's representatives, 
even though they misrepresented him. 



36 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

From God he learned, through the Scriptures, 
through worship in the home and in the synagogue, 
through secret communion, through the characters 
of Mary and Joseph and other godly people, and 
through God's revelation of himself in nature. 

Thus he learned from persons — Mary and Joseph, 
brothers and sisters, neighbors, strangers, officials, 
God himself. He learned through institutions — 
home, synagogue, school, State. He learned by 
means of Scriptures, conversation, contact with the 
outside world, nature, toil. 

Nazareth was called by St. Jerome " the flower of 
Palestine." From the height above the city nature 
displays the glory of God in the beauty and splendor 
of mountain and valley, lake and sea. Nature ad- 
dressed his sense of beauty and his sense of rever- 
ence. She taught him much of God and mankind. 
She furnished him pictures that he afterward 
turned into parables. Nazareth gave him visions of 
mountains, cities, valleys, and waters, where the 
history of their mighty past was enshrined. Every 
scene was alive with the peoples and struggles of 
the past. He learned Hebrew, the language of the 
Old Testament ; Aramaic, the speech of the people ; 
Greek, the language of government and trade. The 
current and historic ideas of the people became 
familiar to him and he was able to frame his own 
thoughts and plans to perfection. 

His use of his environment was perfect. To Mary 
and Joseph he rendered an ideal obedience that grew 



SECOND DAY 37 



out of a real, not an assumed and theatrical, sense 
of dependence on them. He was a real child. To 
his brothers and sisters he gave an older brother's 
unselfish care ; to the neighbors, friendship ; to the 
officers, submission; to the school, prompt industry; 
to the house of God, reverence ; to strangers, cour- 
tesy; to God himself, confiding love; to nature, ad- 
miring and intelligent thought; to the duties of his 
home and his trade, a joyous, artistic devotion. 

The result was that in Jerusalem, that day, was a 
boy of perfect growth up to that point. There was 
nothing to correct. His body had grown properly 
and there was nothing to remedy with medicine or 
surgery, nothing to endure with physical pain. It 
was a worthy tabernacle for his soul, a fitting in- 
strument for his career. His mind worked nor- 
mally. Memory was perfectly retentive because his 
mind was perfectly attentive to its work. Imagina- 
tion made right images. Judgment reached right 
conclusions. Purpose, conscience, heart were al- 
ways right. All unfolded normally — nothing to 
unlearn nor undo. He never had to repent. Doctor 
Rhees says truly he was " the best example the 
world has ever seen of perfect spiritual health." 

4. His Dominant Taste Disclosed. His fond- 
ness for reality and for God had been growing per- 
fectly. Thirst for knowledge, delight in thought and 
conversation about God, love of God's house, showed 
in his being at that place, among the teachers, whom 
he supposed to be learned in the truths he sought. 



38 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

5. His Unerring Insight Shown. He felt the 
spiritual significance of everything, and saw the 
reality under all the striking symbols. He must 
have gotten a glimpse into that formality, hypocrisy, 
and self-seeking, with which he afterwards came into 
desperate conflict. 

6. His Unique Relationship to God Declared. 
Just when the consciousness of that relationship be- 
gan, or how complete it was at that moment, 
no one knows. His question implies that his 
mother might have told him much about him- 
self. In his communion with God he would feel what 
God was to him, and then learn its significance. The 
Scriptures told him of the Messiah and discovered 
Jesus to himself. Then came the consciousness of 
a unique mission. He knew he had some vital con- 
nection with what he saw in the temple and heard 
from his teachers. 

He went back to Nazareth with a sense of de- 
pendence on his parents, yet with a growing sense 
of wide relationship, to God and man, and of a 
unique mission in the world. 



THIRD DAY 
the day of his baptism 

Matt. 3 to 4: 11 ; Mark 1 : 1-12 ; Luke 3 to 4: 13 

The place was the Jordan river; the traditional 
site, the ford of the Jordan, six miles above its 



THIRD DAY 39 



mouth and opposite the ancient city of Jericho. The 
time was when he was " about thirty years old," 
which would make it the latter part of 26 or the early 
part of 2.7 a. d. The traditional date is January 6, 
a. d. 27, and that is not far wrong. 

1. Preparations Perfected. The popular mind 
had received the preparation necessary to identify 
and accept him as the long-expected Messiah. That 
preparation was wrought through John the Baptist. 
He was the herald, announcing the coming One ; the 
forerunner, getting everything ready, as in olden 
days, when a king made a journey, his forerunners 
aroused his subjects to expect him, prepare roads 
for his chariots, and be ready to give him suitable 
welcome. That was John's one mission in life, and 
that mission he performed with fidelity and success. 

For that mission he had been foretold and prom- 
ised and born. For it he had been fitted by tempera- 
ment, training, and environment in the hill country 
of Judea. For it he trained himself unconsciously 
in his choice of an ascetic life in the mountain fast- 
nesses, down toward the Dead Sea, and in his occu- 
pation there. Devoted by his parents, Zacharias 
and Elizabeth, as a Nazarite, to a life of abstinence, 
he accepted their decision and made it his own. He 
retired from the world, not in weakness, but in power ; 
not in cowardice, but to prepare for war ; not for the 
sake of ease, but for the ultimate good of the nation. 
His austerity was the expression of his nature. 

In him the spirit of the old prophets was renewed 



40 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

and prompted his fierce hatred of the bestial and 
hypocritical character of the rulers and the people. 
Reality and righteousness were his outstanding 
traits, and he saw the pretense and wrong-doing 
around him with fiery and impetuous indignation. 
He studied, prayed, and planned, till he knew the na- 
tion and the times, knew the prophecies of a Messiah, 
knew the hopes and expectations of the people, knew 
that he had at last come, and that John himself was 
to be his forerunner. 

As he studied and prayed, he was taught of God. 
When he began to preach, he stayed in the wild 
country and drew the people there — drew them with 
his startling personality ; with his revelations of their 
wickedness; with the news of the Messiah, at last 
come. He drew them through their expectation of 
Elijah's return, for he much resembled the old 
prophet in spirit, manner, and method, and they were 
expecting Elijah to return before the Messiah came; 
through their expectation of a Messiah; through 
their conscience, that supported him in his denuncia- 
tion of their sins ; through their admiration for one 
who could so deny and control himself, although the 
Jews were not naturally given to asceticism. 

Three things he preached with overwhelming 
power — the presence of the King and his kingdom 
of heaven; repentance, rather than descent from 
Abraham, as the condition of entrance into the king- 
dom; proof of repentance to be given in baptism 
and an amended conduct. Some who asked baptism 



THIRD DAY 



he refused, because they had not really repented. 
The Jewish leaders, finding that they were losing 
their hold on the people, tried to join, and thereby get 
control of the movement, but he called them stealthy 
serpents. To those who inquired how they should 
act, he gave appropriate advice — to soldiers, publi- 
cans, and people generally. He was original and au- 
thoritative, yet when he saw Christ he deferred to 
him and found his highest joy in diverting the 
thought of the people from himself to him. He had 
the expectation of the people aroused and some 
choice disciples ready for Christ. 

2. Growth Completed. Of him Dr. W. J. Daw- 
son says : " At the close of these hidden years the 
Son of Mary, whose birth-story is already half- 
forgotten, or cherished only as a legend in a few 
pious hearts, suddenly emerges into fame as the most 
daring religious thinker of his time. He speaks out 
of the fulness of a mind profound, original, and de- 
vout. He commands horizons of thought and as- 
piration undreamed of by the Jew. The greatest 
religious thinkers of his day pale their ineffectual 
fires before his new-risen splendors." 

His whole nature was perfectly developed to ma- 
turity. He knew man and God and truth and him- 
self. He knew his plans. He had all his powers in 
his own possession. He had suffered and had been 
tested. Stored with truth and trained in silence, his 
soul had great reserves of power which people al- 
ways felt. He was able to restrain his desire to get 



42 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

out at his work till his hour struck, though the cry- 
ing needs of mankind were daily heard and the ardor 
of his heart was daily glowing. 

Now he is ready. The word is given by his Father 
in heaven — given through his own sense of ma- 
turity; through the acute form in which he must 
have felt the world's needs ; through the news he had 
been getting of John's work down in Judea ; through 
the Holy Spirit, who was training and prompting 
him. He felt the call and left home. His mother must 
have had a day of rare joy, yet in the joy was hidden 
a heavy pain. In perhaps three days he is at the 
Jordan, asking to be baptized by John. 

No one knows how Jesus looked, though there 
are a few who argue that we have an authentic like- 
ness of him. There is a description, supposed to 
have been written by Lentulus, a proconsul of 
Judea, many years after the death of Jesus and 
usually accounted a forgery. It may be profitable to 
quote it here : " He is tall of stature and his aspect 
is sweet and full of power, so that they who look 
upon him may at once love and fear him. The hair 
of his head is of the color of wine; as far as the 
ears it is straight and without glitter ; from the ears 
to the shoulders it is curled and glossy, and from the 
shoulders it descends over the back, divided into two 
parts, after the manner of the Nazarene; his brow 
is pure and even ; his countenance without a spot, but 
adorned with gentle glow ; his expression bland and 
open; his nose and mouth of perfect beauty; his 



THIRD DAY 43 



beard is copious, forked and of the color of his hair ; 
his eyes are blue and very bright. In reproof and 
threatening he is terrible; in teaching and exhorta- 
tion he is gentle and loving. The grace and majesty 
of his appearance are marvelous." 

3. Identification with Mankind Avowed. 
When he applied to John for baptism the latter saw 
the look of rapt majesty and unsullied goodness on 
his face, and knew he had no sins to repent of. 
Baptism implied repentance, and John felt it would 
be sacrilege to baptize him. The sight of this trans- 
parent goodness showed John his own weakness and 
depressed him. It awakened in his heart a desire, 
long-cherished, to be himself baptized, and he hoped 
this stranger would gratify that desire. But Jesus 
said that the command was a righteous command, 
and that he and John must obey it, he by being bap- 
tized, John by baptizing him. He has completely 
identified himself with man and will discharge every 
duty of a good man. He has accepted the principle 
of obedience to God and will act on that principle 
now. He is one with us, as an obedient man. By 
this time John must have been well convinced that 
this was the Christ. 

4. The Office of Messiah Accepted. In a real 
sense this burial in the river Jordan and resurrec- 
tion from it might have suggested to him his coming 
death and resurrection. Baptism was subsequently 
enjoined on his disciples as such a symbol (Rom. 
6:3-5). I* must have meant to him also that he 



44 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

was entering on the new Messianic life. It was not 
a consecration to his office, but an acceptance of it. 

5. The Spirit's Full Enduement Received. 
This enduement was not in baptism, but just after it. 
His manhood was the product of the Spirit. His 
work would be in the power of the Spirit. The gift 
of the Spirit was without measure, because of his 
complete dependence on the Spirit, the fulness of his 
capacity, and the character of his work. He could 
be trusted with limitless power, for his human nature 
was one with the divine in the Holy Spirit. 

6. Identity Proven to Jopin. Though they were 
distant cousins, they had never met, and perhaps 
John had not suspected that the Messiah would prove 
to be his kinsman. He who called and trained John 
gave him a sign by which he could certainly identify 
him. That sign was the Spirit coming upon him in 
the symbolic form of a dove. As the old prophets 
were anointed for office, this would be a public 
anointing of Jesus. The voice that spoke completed 
the impression on John. From this time he knew 
that the King had come. 

7. Solitude Sought for Meditation. Finding 
himself at the consummation of the processes of 
growth, and suddenly put in possession of the power 
necessary for carrying out his plans, he would be in 
a state of exaltation and need a season of privacy 
for thought and prayer. In his ecstasy, as he 
thought over his task, the methods of achieving it, 
and the power with which he had been equipped for 



THIRD DAY 45 



it, he was oblivious to the flight of time and the need 
of food. After the ecstasy had passed and the re- 
action had come, he was not only hungry, but de- 
pressed as well. At that moment the tempting, test- 
ing process began. 

8. Fidelity Tested and Proven. What will he 
do with this power ? His fidelity must be tested. It 
is not tested at all till it is tested to the very utmost. 
The utmost is what Satan can do. The Spirit does 
not employ satanic agency, but must allow him to 
meet all satanic ingenuity. The purpose of Jesus 
is to destroy Satan's work, and the latter is on the 
watch. He cannot hope that Jesus may be led to do 
a thing wrong in itself, but may hope to deceive him 
into doing a right thing in a wrong way. He first 
seeks to get him to misuse the power with which he 
was intrusted. It is right to supply bread for his 
racking hunger, and at the same time win the atten- 
tion and admiration of the people, who expected 
their Messiah to do something like that. But Jesus 
saw instantly that it would be dishonest thus to use 
power which was given for a higher purpose, for 
others rather than for himself, and distrust of God, 
who had promised to take care of him in all emer- 
gencies. 

Satan next suggests that he seek the admiration 
of the nation, which he so much craves, by leaping 
from the temple in their presence. It is right to win 
them ; they are expecting some such brilliant mira- 
cle ; his nervous feeling on an eminence would sup- 



46 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

port the appeal. This suggests a threefold wrong — 
putting God to a test he had not authorized ; gratify- 
ing a vulgar desire of the people without bettering 
them ; evading the pain and suffering through which 
he must win and regenerate them. 

Lastly he offers Jesus just what he wants, and at 
once, the rulership of the world for God. That is the 
Christ's paramount desire. To get it at once without 
the cross, and take the nations in bulk rather than as 
individuals — how desirable ! The wrong would be 
in doing evil that good might come; trying to save 
men en masse rather than as individuals, externally 
rather than internally ; exchanging God's method for 
man's, the cross for a crown. He came forth puri- 
fied from the fire. The tempter never ceased to as- 
sail him, but the initial victory was the assurance 
of final triumph. 



II 

PERIOD OF OBSCURITY 

In Judea, March-December A. D. 27. 

21. John's testimony to Jesus. John I : 19-34. 

22. The first disciples. John I : 35-51. 

23. The first miracle. John 2 : I-II. 

24. Brief stay at Capernaum. John 2 : 12. 

25. His first Passover as Messiah. John 2 : 13. 

26. First cleansing of the temple. John 2 : 14-22. 

27. His talk with Nicodemus. John 3 : 1-21. 

28. Result of his visit. John 2 : 23-25. 

29. Quiet ministry in Judea. John 3 : 22. 

30. John's tribute to Jesus. John 3 : 25-36. 

31. Departure to Galilee. Matt. 4 : 12 ; Mark I : 

Luke 3 : 19, 20 ; 4 : 14 ; John 4 : 1-4. 

32. Saving the woman at the well. John 4 : 4-26. 

33. Preaching at Sychar. John 4 : 27-42. 

34. Arrival in Galilee. Matt. 4 : 17 ; Mark I : 14, 

Luke 4 : 14, 15 ; John 4 : 43-45. 



FOURTH DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS FIRST DISCIPLES 

John i 

I. Foretaste of Power. His personal reign on 
earth has at last begun. He has five or six personal 
followers, not counting John. Here is the Mes- 
sianic kingdom, so long expected, consisting of the 
King and his subjects. The Jews thought it was to 
be a splendid political and religious kingdom com- 
bined; John had a purer and a truer though not a 
perfect view of its religious and ethical character; 
Jesus knew perfectly what he meant by it and now 
here it is — the King and his subjects. The kingdom 
means the king-dominion, and is found wherever the 
King has dominion. It is called " kingdom of God " 
and " kingdom of the heavens," because it comes 
from God and is perfectly established in the heavens. 
It is called the Messianic and mediatorial kingdom, 
because it took a " Messiah," one " anointed," or ap- 
pointed for that purpose, who becomes a " Medi- 
ator," or go-between, to get back this runaway 
world that had thrown off the yoke of its heavenly 
King. The Mediator is the Lamb of God, who takes 
away men's sins before he can get them under his 
sway. Jesus is here recognized as that sacrificial 
Lamb and is accepted by some as the King foretold. 
d 49 



50 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

They became subjects by yielding to his sway and 
taking into themselves the principles and ideals em- 
bodied in him. All the truths and powers of the 
kingdom are perfectly alive in the King, all of them 
are germinal in the subjects. At the battle of Wag- 
ram it was written of Marshal Macdonald, " France 
stood where Macdonald stood." The kingdom of 
God was there on the Jordan where Jesus and those 
few followers were. They were in that kingdom 
because it was first in them. 

His purpose was to establish his sway over indi- 
viduals, rather than over the nation as such, and 
gradually over the world; to do so, in the spirit of 
personal love, by personal contact, rather than in the 
spirit of imperialism and by the mere machinery of 
government; to use the instrument of truth that 
could make its appeal to judgment and conscience 
and faith, rather then empty ceremonial and still 
more empty traditions. Qualitatively and in its 
roots his kingdom was then complete. Quantita- 
tively and in its fruits it is not even yet complete. 
Jesus had that day the joy of his first success, in be- 
coming the King of men, and a foretaste of his 
wider successes. 

2. After His Self-Conquest. He had been out 
in the wilderness winning himself and becoming his 
own king. He cannot rule others till he can rule 
himself, and he cannot be freely trusted till he has 
been fully tested. He had spent thirty years gain- 
ing knowledge of all kinds, developing his manifold 



FOURTH DAY 5 I 



powers in the effort to gain that knowledge and 
getting possession of himself, with all those powers 
and that knowledge. In that stage of self-mastery 
he had come to his baptism. When new endow- 
ments of power were given by the descending Spirit, 
he had a new task in self -conquest. To incorporate 
that power in himself — assimilate it to his very na- 
ture and employ it perfectly in his plans and pur- 
poses and actions — can only be done in the heat of 
intense thought and under the assault of the most 
artfully conceived and powerfully directed tempta- 
tion. To misuse this new power is to lose com- 
mand of himself. When he came out of this experi- 
ence in the wilderness, he was the man that he was 
when he was baptized plus the new power, now a 
vi.al part of himself. " His self-mastery in all cir- 
cumstances separates Jesus from all ecstatics and 
fanatics," says Doctor Rhees. Having passed 
through the severest tests, he has reached " the king- 
ship of self-control " and is ready to rule men. 

3. After Sacrificial Suffering. John saw it in 
his face, as he came back from the wilderness, and 
he got a completer conception of his character and 
his mission. He had seen the majesty and purity of 
the Messianic King when he baptized the mar- 
velous stranger; now he sees in his face the cha- 
stened and benignant power that suffering imparts, 
and remembers that the old prophets called him 
more than Ruler — called him Sufferer; and John 
might have recalled Isaiah's words : " He was 



52 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

brought as a lamb to the slaughter." At any rate, 
he expressed the larger truth he now saw clearly: 
" Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin 
of the world." This fuller conception was due to the 
revelation which the face of Jesus must have made 
to John's appreciative soul; to John's own studies 
and meditations during the forty days since the bap- 
tism ; above all, to the Spirit of God, who was teach- 
ing him through those studies and through this view 
of Jesus. 

His is to be a sacrificial life, culminating in the 
supreme act of his death. By giving himself he has 
gained himself. To rule their spirits he must remedy 
their sins. To save them, he must suffer for them. 
He comes to those men with the kingly quality that 
suffering gives and is ready to rule them by remedy- 
ing their lives and making them rulable. 

4. By His Compelling Personality. He at- 
tracted them to himself by a magnetism that ap- 
pealed resistlessly to their whole nature. It was not 
by what he said and did, so much as by what he was, 
that they were drawn to him. His being shone out 
through his bearing, his worth through his words, 
and men yielded to him. He attached them to him- 
self and thus established his rule over them. That 
is the way he continues to rule, and the only way. 
He rules in person and has never transferred his 
authority to men or institutions or creeds or cere- 
monials. All the value they may have is what he, in 
person, gives them. When he stood among the 



FOURTH DAY 53 



crowd that day, on his return from the wilderness, 
his look produced a magical effect, and when two 
men, Andrew and his companion, timidly accosted 
him, his words were winged with his own force — 
that inscrutable something which drew noble souls to 
him and also drew them away from all that was 
ignoble in thought and conduct and association. They 
not only left what was wrong, but put all other 
worthy things in the place of secondary importance. 

He knew his power and relied on it. That day he 
wanted disciples, and he knew that when they came 
within the range of his influence they would sur- 
render to him. 

5. With His Faultless Skill. In winning them 
he shows unerring insight and consummate wisdom. 
We may simply say it was tact — a spiritual sense of 
touch that discovered the quality, and directed his 
treatment, of each person. We may note four in- 
stances : First, his treatment of John. He knew he 
could not pay a higher tribute, nor give a greater 
pleasure, to his heroic forerunner, than to take some 
of his followers, for John had been preparing his 
choicest for him. It would be an appreciated recog- 
nition of his prophetic calling and his worthy pre- 
paratory work. When John said, " Behold the Lamb 
of God " the second time it was to two of his fol- 
lowers, and he must have indicated by his accent, or 
a look, or a nod of the head, that they should follow 
Jesus. Here is tact in the recognition of worth. 

Next, his treatment of those two. Andrew was 



54 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

one, and John, who afterward became an apostle 
and wrote the account of it, is supposed to have been 
the other. In their case it is tact in meeting the spirit 
of anxious inquiry and overcoming unwilling igno- 
rance. We cannot but admire the way they did. In- 
tensely aroused and believing him to be what John 
the Baptist had said he was, they still wanted further 
information, and wanted it from him. They fol- 
lowed him, on John's hint, half in fear, and nervously 
stammered out the easiest question that would lead 
to a further interview. Graciously he helped them 
to express their desire, and invited them, with such 
hospitable and winsome accent, that they went along, 
feeling fully at home with him. In that long inter- 
view he patiently answered their questions and told 
them about himself. It was so precious an experi- 
ence that one of them remembered the very hour of 
the day, and, sixty years later, wrote this account of 
it for us. 

Then we have Peter's case. He was known as 
Simon at that time, and his brother Andrew had 
just brought him to Jesus. He was an impetuous, 
hot-tempered, self-confident, autocratic fellow, but 
in that nature, now in a state of flux, Jesus saw the 
material that would harden into rock, for the build- 
ing of his church, when one more ingredient was 
added and he was exposed to the atmosphere and 
discipline of trial and struggle. Jesus saw it all at 
a glance, and changed his name to Peter, which is 
the Greek for rock, Cephas being the same name in 



FOURTH DAY 55 



Aramaic. Discovering his possibilities, he awakened 
Simon's ideals and fired his ambition. 

Lastly, in Nathanael's case, he overcame marked 
prejudice. Had Philip simply told him that they had 
found the Messiah and invited him to come, without 
saying he was from Nazareth, the devout, sincere 
soul would have risen from his devotions under the 
fig tree and gone with him to accept Jesus on the 
spot, without a question. After seeing and knowing 
him he would not have cared where he was reared. 
But when Philip said the Messiah was from Naza- 
reth, Nathanael quoted a saying that no good thing 
could come out of Nazareth. He may have believed 
this saying in sheer guilelessness, or he might have 
had a prejudice against the place because he lived 
in the neighboring, rival town of Cana. Jesus had 
seen him at prayer; now he sees him down to his 
very depths, and discovers him to himself in his 
simple, unsuspecting devoutness. This word of in- 
sight and approval dissipated prejudice and doubt 
and attached Nathanael to him forever. 

6. Through the Personal Method. He began 
with the method he has been employing ever since — 
personal work with persons, or as it is often ex- 
pressed, " individual work for individuals." To 
John he was probably indebted for all six of them, as 
they seem to have been his disciples and to have 
been especially instructed and stimulated by him. 
The first two were deliberately turned over to Jesus 
by John. 



56 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

Then Andrew brought Simon ; no doubt John, the 
writer, went to get his brother James ; Philip, whom 
Jesus found, went after his friend Nathanael. Per- 
sonal conversation brought it all about. After his 
departure the disciples went everywhere, " talking " 
the gospel, and that is the way his kingdom is still 
spreading. He is winning them through his dis- 
ciples and one at a time. 

7. Followed by Personal Training of the Dis- 
ciples. He has begun the training of his subjects for 
the duties of citizenship in three ways — making them 
useful in winning others ; instructing them about 
himself as the ladder, the connecting link between 
heaven and earth, the channel for angelic ministry 
and the unique Son of Man; allowing them, soon 
after, to go back home to their employments, for 
thought and prayer. That day was an epoch in their 
lives and in his life. An immense movement has 
been inaugurated. 



FIFTH DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS FIRST MIRACLE 
John. 2 : 1-11 

i. Miracles Inevitable. Those superhuman 
gifts, bestowed by the Spirit, must be used, and they 
must be used, sooner or later, in ways as far above 
the ordinary as the gifts themselves were above 
mere native human endowments. To us such acts 



FIFTH DAY $? 



would be supernatural, miraculous, because the 
powers out of which they came would be so. 
Whether Jesus used them in working changes 
within men's souls, or on their bodies, or on the 
various objects of nature, the result would be super- 
human in either case, but they would not be so mar- 
velous as the Person who had the power to do such 
things. 

Those gifts were bestowed, not that they them- 
selves might be displayed, but that they might serve 
his purpose in two ways — by perfecting him in the 
sources of his life and in his equipment; by mani- 
festing his inner character and powers, " His glory." 
Not to be mere power, but to give him power; not 
to show themselves, but to manifest him — such was 
the double purpose of those gifts of the Spirit. Not 
to have so used them, he would have been untrue to 
his trust and would have failed in his work. He 
had the impulse for self-expression and found joy 
in it. Miracles were inevitable. 

The time to begin using that power in the outer 
sphere of men's bodies or of nature, as he had al- 
ready begun in the inner sphere of men's souls, had 
come. As Professor Bowne says, " God is the ever- 
present agent in the ongoing of the world, and nature 
is but the form and product of his ceaseless activity." 
Endowed with God's power, Jesus was present with 
the forces of nature, controlling them for his own 
glorious ends. It was " the third day " after Na- 
thanael joined the ranks of his followers, and it was 



58 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

at a wedding up in Cana of Galilee, a little town 
close to his old home, Nazareth. It was the best 
time and place and occasion for the first objective 
miracle, or he would not have chosen it ; besides, we 
ourselves can see as we go on in our study some 
reasons why this was the most fitting occasion. 
Bearing in mind the double purpose of his super- 
human gifts — to empower him for work and mani- 
fest him in work — we see how that purpose is being 
achieved in this miracle. 

2. Unique Self-Control Asserting Itself. 
That is the first revelation the miracle makes to us. 
He does not perform it under a mere sentimental or 
social impulse. He takes his own impulses and 
transforms them into a clear, well-reasoned motive 
that keeps in mind the purpose he must accom- 
plish. It is safe to say that no man ever loved his 
mother as wholly, tenderly, wisely and unselfishly as 
Jesus did. Yet he did not do this miracle merely 
because she wanted him to do it. She knew his 
kindly disposition and his former resources ; she had 
welcomed him home after he entered on his career 
and was confident he could do marvelous things. 
That would bring gratification to her and glory to 
him — and she wanted him to work a miracle. 

His assurance to her was conclusive that in using 
this power in such ways he alone must decide when 
and how. He was a trustee and must keep in view 
the purpose for which he was intrusted with it. He 
and she have had many things in common, but not 



FIFTH DAY 59 



this. He once belonged to her alone, as son of 
Mary; he now belongs to the human race, as Son 
of Man. He is her son; he is also her Saviour. 
Though the form in which he said it seems some- 
what harsh, yet it was entirely respectful and was 
not an unusual form of address, while his manner and 
accent won her unquestioning and loving acquies- 
cence. He was establishing a unique relationship to 
all, and she was one of many. She felt this no doubt 
— the sword's point was touching her heart. Only 
he can decide when to put forth this power, and he 
has the wisdom and the self-command to decide 
aright. 

3. Sympathy for Human Life Uttering It- 
self. He put his soul into this miracle and every 
moment he kept his supreme purpose in view. It 
uncovers his heart and discovers his aim to us. 

His central quality is his feeling for human life, 
which we call sympathy. That was normal to him, 
for he was the source of life — " in him was life and 
the life was the light of men," that original life in 
him having broken into luminosity in all living 
things; he had come to rectify and perfect life; he 
was related, as " Son of Man," to human life as 
such, whatever be the national or social or individ- 
ual forms that life might take. Of this he was con- 
scious. Not to any class of people, as the diseased, 
or defeated, or delinquent, or prosperous, or popular, 
or ruling class, does he belong, and must he give 
himself, but to all and to human life as such. In the 



60 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

home, and at the wedding, which is the founding of 
another home, is the one place where he can express 
his sympathy for life itself — for homes and weddings 
are for all classes, and there the life of each one 
centers. This miracle, at the very outset of his 
career, uncovers the universals for us — his sympathy 
and purpose for life, as such, and his ministry to its 
needs. Afterward he did marvelous things for in- 
dividuals, but this was for the universal human life. 
He was Son of Man, not a class Man, but man's 
Man. This miracle could teach its lessons and 
achieve its work without any political significance, 
and that was important. 

As his mission is to rectify life at its source and 
complete it through its unfolding, he begins his 
miracles in the home, the source of life, and rectifies, 
completes, and ennobles the wedding occasion. Re- 
lieving embarrassment caused by error or sin, fur- 
nishing needed supplies, and completing the wedding 
joy — that is what he was doing in the beginning; 
that is what he is still doing for human life. He was 
not an ascetic, living apart from people, but the per- 
fect man, living into all life. He saw in the home a 
type of heaven ; in the marriage relation a symbol of 
the relation between himself and his people. 

4. Deep Relationships Disclosing Them- 
selves. In the presence of the powers of nature he is 
owned as Lord. He had made, through methods of 
his own, the elements of hydrogen and oxygen into 
a liquid which we call water, and without violating 



FIFTH DAY 6 1 



any of the laws which he had given nature he 
turned the sparkling water into the blushing wine. 
We can make use of the forces of nature in mar- 
velous ways, with wise contrivances, but he had im- 
mediate command over them. Nature is immedi- 
ately dependent on God. 

To human life he is source and Saviour, entering 
into wide and minute relationships with it, either 
actually or ideally. So that he is capable of experi- 
encing something of all the manifold joys and sor- 
rows of men and women, whatever may be their rela- 
tionships and personal conditions. 

5. Final Assurance Given to All. The mira- 
cles of Jesus were called by four different words. 
The people sometimes called them " works," as if 
only such deeds were worthy to be called works. 
They called them " wonders " because of the impres- 
sion made on their minds. They called them 
" powers " because of the force that must be in them. 
Jesus and the inspired writers called them " signs." 
Their significance was their chief interest. John 
says, " This beginning of signs." 

It was a sign to Jesus himself that the Father had 
sent him and was with him. Whatever other assur- 
ances he had, he needed this also. 

It was a sign to the disciples that he whom they 
had so simply and suddenly taken as Messiah was 
really he. The old prophets had had some unusual 
attestation of their prophetic call, and these simple- 
minded people would think it strange if he had not. 



62 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

They had been taught to expect such deeds from 
their Messiah. To them this was a reassuring sign, 
and it put the crown of completeness on their faith in 
him. 

To the public in general, who were soon discuss- 
ing it for miles around, it signified at least the ap- 
pearance of a prophet who might prove to be the 
Messiah they expected. Neither they nor his dis- 
ciples, in their state of mind and with their training 
and history, could have recognized his tremendous 
claims without such reassuring " signs." Not " to 
create a mere compulsory consent in minds which 
had no sympathy with him," but to answer reason- 
able questions and confirm faith, was his purpose. 

This was a sign of what he was and what he could 
do in the sphere of their inner characters. He can 
charge the common joys with a new ingredient and 
make them like rare wine. When he cures blind and 
deaf and lame and leprous it is a " sign " that he can 
thus cure blind and deaf and lame and leprous souls. 
His glory was his character, and this sign 
manifested his glory as he put himself with 
limitless and powerful and intelligent and active 
sympathy into human life, not as a spectator or 
censor, but as a brother, sanctioning and sanctifying 
its elemental joys, rectifying its sins, perfecting its 
experiences. That was his glory then and is to-day. 
Nature is one form in which the glorious character 
of God expresses itself; this control of Jesus over 
nature was a form in which his glory was set forth. 



FIFTH DAY 63 



6. A New Career Opened to Him. From this 
time he is a marked man. He belongs to the public. 
His course is changed. His character is to be dis- 
cussed and his claims canvassed by friendly and 
unfriendly, wise and foolish, tongues. 

He could not fail to know some of the conse- 
quences, in advance. He must have thought of the 
relation in which he would stand to his people, as a 
bridegroom, and of the redemption and perfec- 
tion of his bride by his blood, to be poured out like 
wine. Perhaps he thought of the ordinance by which 
he would fix the tragedy of the shedding of his 
blood in the memory of his bride forever — the or- 
dinance of the Holy Supper. He has struck the key- 
note of his career — ministry to human life as such — 
and upon that career he has started, to meet its 
perils, endure its pains, and enjoy its pleasures, with 
undimmed aim and unflinching purpose. He has 
given them a sign, and much more of ministry in 
detail is to follow, but always within the broad lines 
laid down here. 

7. The Urgent Lessons Left by Him. Because 
life is sacred in itself and in all its elemental rela- 
tionships, he desires that we cherish it and be 
provident and true ; that we rectify it, at its source, 
and complete it, as it grows, by inviting him into its 
sacredest and simplest functions. Desiring his pres- 
ence, doing his will, accepting his help, trusting his 
guidance, with intellects that have found rational 
proof, with hearts that have been fed on consummate 



64 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

sympathy, with wills that feel the reinforcement of 
his power of purpose, with consciences that have 
been trained in his righteousness, we may reproduce 
his life on earth. 



SIXTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE INAUGURAL AT JERUSALEM 

John 2 : 12 to j :j6 

i. The Inaugural Proper. At the Jordan, when 
he was baptized, Jesus accepted the office of Mes- 
siah ; there, after his baptism, he received the endow- 
ment of power for the office ; in the wilderness hard 
by he was tested as to the use he would make of that 
power, and, in the fierce caldron of temptation it 
was assimilated to his life; near there he first ex- 
erted that power upon the spirits of men and made 
them personal and permanent followers of his for- 
ever ; up at Cana he entered into the publicity of his 
office, by exerting that power on nature, not in man 
but for man, at the wedding ; now, during the Pass- 
over, he inaugurates his public work at the nation's 
capital. 

2. The Occasion. According to our chronology, 
it was the Passover of April, a. d. 27. Pie and his 
mother and disciples had gone from Cana over to 
Capernaum, the commercial capital of Galilee, where 
they stopped only a little while. He performed some 
miracles there, but entered upon no distinct teaching. 



SIXTH DAY 65 



They must have fallen in with quite a crowd of pil- 
grims to the sacred festival and we can imagine that 
they had an exuberant joy in the journey. Some 
must have thought he would put himself at the head 
of the nation and become the sort of Messiah they 
expected. Probably his mother thought so. They 
were joyous and expectant. 

3. The Place. Why begin at Jerusalem? Be- 
cause the temple was there and he would start with 
his Father's message from his Father's house. The 
life of the nation centered there and he would bring 
help for the nation to the nation's heart of hearts. 
Religious and political influences, that controlled the 
nation, radiated from there, and he would rectify 
those influences at their source. The men behind 
those influences lived there and he would offer to 
them, first of all, the help he brought. There was 
unspeakable need there and it was his duty to begin 
at the point of greatest need : from his observations, 
while attending feasts in years gone by, from his ac- 
curate knowledge of the times, the people and their 
rulers, from what John might have told him in per- 
sonal and intimate conversations, he knew that the 
rulers were bad, awfully, shockingly bad. He had 
been promised to the nation as their Messiah, and he 
must report at the nation's headquarters. He will be 
their sacrificial, Passover Lamb, who will bear off 
their sins in reality, and he will present himself to 
them as they are offering their Passover sacrifice, 
which only bears off their sins pictorially. That is 



66 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

the type, he the antitype. Within him are impulses 
moving him thither — love of his father's home, love 
of the nation, love of the place, sense of duty, love of 
sacrifice touched by the Passover occasion, tender 
memories of the deliverance commemorated by the 
Passover, solemn, yet glorious, anticipations of the 
deliverance which he would bring by the sacrifice of 
himself. Yes, Jerusalem is the one place, and the 
Passover is the one occasion, for inaugurating his 
full work. There are three things that will reveal 
him to us — the signs, or miracles of mercy, the 
cleansing of the temple, and the interview with 
Nicodemus. We will study him in the light of these 
events. 

4. His Frank Manifestation of Himself 
Through His " Signs." He found occasion for 
deeds of mercy. The afflicted were there in large 
numbers, a few to get the benefit of the Passover, 
but most of them to take advantage of the spirit of 
fellowship and good-will that prevailed, and many to 
beg. Inquirers were there, whose unchosen igno- 
rance was eagerly seeking enlightenment. He gave 
out himself, through his kindly deeds, with only the 
reserve that wisdom commanded. Some looked 
through the " signs " to that which was signified and 
partly understood. It is likely that he wrought 
signs before the cleansing and during his whole visit. 

5. His Hot Indignation at Official Corrup- 
tion. When he came to the temple area, and into the 
outer courts, he saw things that threw him into a 



SIXTH DAY 67 



state of feeling he had never experienced before. It 
was a state of anger, intense and thorough. As Dr. 
Dawson says, " anger was a rare passion with 
Jesus." " Anger with Christ was always a moral 
passion. The things that made him angry were 
irreverence, hypocrisy, cruelty, meanness, and un- 
kindness." 

He was not angry that animals of all kinds were 
offered for sale, for all had to buy them; nor that 
they were brought to a spot convenient for all ; nor 
that men were ready to exchange the home shekel 
for foreign money, for Jews from afar must pay 
their temple tax with home money and not with coins 
that might have images of foreign rulers stamped on 
them. 

He was angry that the priests were dishonoring 
God's house and taking advantage of ignorance and 
poverty to enrich themselves. They had created a 
monopoly and were growing rich. They would not 
let the worshipers buy from anybody else, for the 
priests themselves had to inspect their offerings and 
could throw out what was not bought of them, as 
being unfit. Thus they crowded out other dealers 
and made the helpless worshiper pay exorbitant 
prices. These same priests had their employees sit- 
ting at tables with change to accommodate those who 
had foreign coin. Charging an exchange of four 
pence on every foreign shekel, they made many thou- 
sands of dollars every year. They brought the ani- 
mals inside the temple area in their sacrilegious 



68 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

greed, and held bazaars for the sale of useful articles 
and souvenirs for their private benefit. Thus they 
turned the sacred house into an instrument of rob- 
bery. We would call it a case of " graft," pious 
graft. They secularized the worship, debased them- 
selves, defrauded the poor. 

When he saw the animals and heard the unholy 
noises; saw the excited and troubled worshipers; 
saw the heartless priests enjoying their spoils; 
thought of the awful blight on people as well as on 
priests ; felt the blasphemy offered to God's house 
and to God himself, his soul boiled in a holy anger. 
No one ever felt such sympathy for the weak as he, 
whether it was the weakness of ignorance or inex- 
perience or poverty ; no one ever felt such indigna- 
tion at their wrongs. 

6. His Reformatory Work Inaugurated. The 
greatest possible evil had befallen his nation — the 
" incurable corruption " of its leaders and the wide- 
spread loss of confidence in them. His work is to be 
formative, but it must first be reformative. It is to 
be constructive, but must begin with being destruc- 
tive. Here is some desperately destructive work to 
do. He has real, but no formal, authority, such as 
the Sanhedrin might give, to stop it. He will act on 
his real authority whether the people recognize it or 
not. How to do it is the question, but it is in- 
stantly settled — not by argument, nor by moral sua- 
sion; not by peremptory order, unsupported by 
action. They are not open to reason or the appeal 



SIXTH DAY 69 



of right. Drive them out with violence — that is the 
only way. And he does it. The instrument, some 
cords which he found and knotted together, was en- 
tirely inadequate to it. It was the Man who wielded 
it. It was the first real man they had ever seen. All 
they had ever seen before were broken fragments of 
men. He overawed them. He was what a man was 
originally designed to be — a representative of God, 
and they saw it. Righteousness was personified in 
him, raised to its highest power, and they saw the 
fires of judgment flaming in his face. He repre- 
sented man as well as God, and all that is majestic in 
mankind was summed up in him at that moment. 
He manifested the glory of his character as truly 
as in turning water into wine, and all felt it. As 
the tables toppled over and the lash was uplifted 
over guilty shoulders, his greatness overawed and 
their known guilt unnerved them, and they rendered 
terrified or sullen obedience to his demands. His 
claim, that this was his Father's house and that it 
was being polluted, passed for the moment unchal- 
lenged. 

7. His Life-Long Conflict Precipitated. This 
brought upon him the unrelenting hatred of the 
priests and ruling classes, that never slumbered till 
it put him to death at a similar Passover, just three 
years later. They were enraged at their financial 
losses; at their defeat in the presence of their 
victims, and especially by an untrained, unlicensed 
charlatan, as they had taken him to be ; most of all, 



JO THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

at having their reputations assailed and their stand- 
ing with the people damaged. The people were awed 
by his act, and most of them approved it. They 
liked it for his sake, for he was popular. They ap- 
proved it, for they had suffered from that system of 
exaction ; had felt the sacrilege of their course ; had 
lost respect for the officials and were glad to see 
them humiliated. 

But the officials dared not arrest and punish him, 
for they knew they would not have popular support 
and might bring on a popular tumult. But they 
went stealthily to work to get revenge. From that 
time on, their spies followed him all over the country 
and brought back reports to the Sanhedrin. They 
did assail him, after it was all over, with a question 
as to his authority. He had taken in the situation 
and knew that they simply meant to resist him, and 
he answered in an enigma. He afterward ex- 
plained that he meant the temple of his body. He 
knew they were destroying their temple by taking 
the heart out of its worship, and that he would re- 
build it by restoring its religious life, through his 
coming death and resurrection. They laid hold of 
his statement and kept it in memory, and, three 
years later, brought against him the charge of 
blasphemy, for having said he would destroy their 
temple and rebuild it in three days. 

He knew the conflict was on and employed a re- 
serve, quite in contrast with the frank and joyous 
manner of the preceding days. The people were 



SIXTH DAY 



more or less intimidated by their leaders, and while 
they had some faith, it was superficial and uncon- 
fiding, so that he could not trust them. 

8. His Personal Method of Work Continued. 
This was another personal interview. It was quite 
a worthy thing in Nicodemus, the dignified member 
of the Sanhedrin, to search Jesus out. It was wise in 
him to come by night and thus prevent impulsive 
criticism of himself and Jesus. The excitement 
from the cleansing of the temple, the courtesy ex- 
tended by a counsellor to this rabbi, young, a Gali- 
lean, and unlicensed — all might bring discomfort. 
Besides, he was a calm student and wished a quiet 
talk. Perhaps he thought he could attach Jesus to 
the leaders and reconcile them to him again. Jesus 
trusted him with deep truths — that all must begin 
life anew by rebirth, who would enter his kingdom, 
not by descent from Abraham. The stubborn con- 
ceit that he was in the kingdom led him rather to 
ridicule the idea. Jesus put him on a level with 
Gentiles ; told him sacrifice and suffering were neces- 
sary ; told him that it was through faith in him ; 
told him that the Messiah was the atoning Son of 
Man and Son of God. He won Nicodemus and pos- 
sibly the family at Bethany and Joseph of Arima- 
thea. But he seems to have concluded that the 
people were not ready for his Messianic work and 
needed more preparatory work, for he spent the next 
few months preaching in Judea, as John had been 
doing. 



72 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



SEVENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FIRST OPEN AVOWAL 

Matt. 4 : 12 ; Mark 1 : 14 ; John 4 

i. The Avowal Itself. To Nicodemus Jesus 
had spoken of the Son of Man and the Son of God ; 
to many others he had used similar terms about the 
Messiah ; to no one but this woman had he said, " I 
that speak unto thee am he." The miracles at Jeru- 
salem, the cleansing of the temple, and the words to 
Nicodemus would naturally lead to fuller explana- 
tions about himself ; and we may well believe that he 
would have openly declared himself in Jerusalem, 
at the Passover, to be the Messiah, whom he was 
preaching, had they been ready to receive him. The 
leaders became openly and permanently hostile, be- 
cause their pride was wounded, their prejudices of- 
fended, and their power over the people imperiled 
by him. Those people who believed on him were 
superficial believers, from fear of their rulers and 
from life-long habits of provincial pride and self- 
righteousness. When it is said that " many believed 
on his name, beholding his signs which he did," they 
believed merely because of signs, and not because 
of what was signified, the character of the Messiah 
himself. And when it is said that " Jesus did not 
trust himself unto them," he seems to mean that he 
would not trust them with the further truths he had 
to say about himself as Messiah. 



SEVENTH DAY 73 



2. The Previous Ministry in Judea. Finding 
that the times were not ripe for proclaiming himself 
the Messiah, and that more preparatory work was 
needed, he had gone out into Judea, after that Pass- 
over in April, a. d. 27, preaching in co-operation with 
John. He must have preached in substance what 
John did — that the Messianic reign was at hand, 
that repentance for sin and faith in the Messiah, 
rather than descent from Abraham, was the condi- 
tion of entrance into his kingdom, and that the re- 
pentance must prove itself in baptism and an 
amended life — without saying that he himself was 
that Messiah. His preaching won success, and many 
were baptized, not by him in person, but by him 
through his disciples. The latter part of the third 
chapter of John's Gospel tells about it. That pre- 
paratory work went on through the summer, into the 
autumn, and until this journey through Samaria 
into Galilee, probably December, a. d. 27. During 
these months his followers have spent part of their 
time with him and part at home in their usual 
callings. 

3. The Judean Period Closed. It is now time to 
discontinue this kind of work and go on his own 
distinctive mission. He quits working in Judea for 
several reasons — the preparatory stage is now past ; 
his growing popularity and the increasing number 
of his disciples have made friction between them and 
John's ; the Jewish authorities are about to precipi- 
tate a persecution on both him and John, and that 



74 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

should be avoided ; about that time, Herod arrested 
John on the ostensible plea of public safety, and the 
Pharisees would co-operate with him in arresting 
Jesus ; he can find a more fruitful field in Galilee — 
in fact, Judea is almost hopeless. So he leaves 
Judea, because he will be throwing away time, in- 
volving his friends in embarrassment and suffering, 
needlessly inviting persecution and neglecting more 
promising places, if he remains. John's Gospel alone 
tells of these first labors, while the other three 
Gospels tell of the baptism and temptation and then 
pass on to the Galilean ministry. 

4. The Galilean Ministry Begun. Galilee is a 
more promising field, for three reasons : Jesus was 
reared there, and they would have an interest in their 
countryman, while his personal acquaintance ought 
to count for something; most of his disciples were 
from Galilee, and that would help him establish use- 
ful points of contact with the people ; they were more 
hospitable to new truth up there than in Judea. 
There were several reasons for this: they mingled 
with the outside world and were more social and less 
prejudiced; they worshiped in synagogues, where 
there were no ceremonials and the meetings were in- 
formal ; they were far away from the Jerusalem 
rabbis and were more practical and less doctrinaire. 
Jesus is now on his way to Galilee, where he will 
finally make Capernaum, its commercial capital, the 
center of his work, and will win a wonderful success 
for a period of about a year and a half. We may 



SEVENTH DAY 75 



count the Galilean period to begin with his departure 
from Judea, via Samaria. 

5. Compulsion Toward Samaria. He must 
needs go through Samaria. There was another road 
to Galilee, and the Judean Jews generally took it, in 
order to avoid contact with the Samaritans, though 
it was the longer road. They crossed the Jordan, 
went up the east side and then recrossed. The Gal- 
ilean Jews were not so prejudiced, and often went 
direct to Jerusalem. Jesus was under an inner com- 
pulsion to go through Samaria, a compulsion arising 
from judgment and conscience and a longing heart. 
He would save time by going that way, and to spend 
time in gratifying prejudice would be sin. He would 
do good by going that way, while the longer road did 
not offer such an opportunity for wayside ministries. 
The good he will do is disclosed by the story of the 
winning of the Samaritans and the training of the 
disciples in broad human sympathies. And he will 
get good. His heart yearns to break down the wall 
between Jews and Gentiles, to get down under the 
surface distinctions and " meet man as man." He 
longs for such an experience. It is an epoch in his 
life. Samaria needed him; he needed Samaria; so 
did his disciples. 

The feeling between the Jews and Samaritans was 
bitter, and it is not surprising. The latter were a 
mongrel race. When Shalmanesar captured Sama- 
ria and ended the national existence of the northern 
kingdom in 722 b. c, he brought back from Baby- 



y6 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

Ionia five little nations and planted them among the 
remnant left in Samaria. They mingled. They then 
developed a mongrel religion, made up of their 
heathen religions and the Jewish, which was taught 
them by a renegade priest from Jerusalem. They 
wanted to unite with the Jews in rebuilding the tem- 
ple after the captivity, but were refused, because they 
were not close enough of kin to be Jews and too 
close to be liked. The refusal incensed them, and 
they built a temple of their own on Mount Gerizim, 
where they expected the Messiah to appear. From 
that time the two nations hated each other, and a 
Jewish rabbi said that " he that eats bread with a 
Samaritan is as he who eats swine's flesh." It was 
among these people Jesus " must needs go." In three 
days after leaving the vicinity of Jerusalem, he 
would be at Jacob's well. A little group of disciples 
was with him, as they were often with him, for a 
few days at a time, and then at work for a while at 
their callings. 

6. Uncovering the Universals. He was the 
Son of Man, entering into universal relationships 
and feeling universal sympathies with human beings 
as such. He saw and felt the essential unity of the 
race, and, had it been wise, he would have gone to 
Jews and Gentiles alike at the first. Here he was 
face to face with one in whose veins flowed Jewish 
and Gentile blood, and that touched him and perhaps 
suggested to him the time when he would succeed 
in breaking down the wall of separation between the 



SEVENTH DAY 77 



two, thus making a new type of man. A brotherly 
man is one of Christ's products. He may be of any 
color or any one race, but beneath those surface dif- 
ferences he is a man and a brother of every other 
man. Such was Jesus himself. He and this woman 
were one, in common physical wants and spiritual as 
well. His physical wants she could minister to ; her 
spiritual wants he longed to supply. Her personal 
and race misfortunes made him more anxious to help 
her. He went down beneath the superficial distinc- 
tions and met her at the point of unity. As a Jew he 
should scorn a Samaritan, decline to speak to a 
woman in public, and feel disgraced in speaking at 
all with an immoral one, as she was ; as a man and 
Saviour he did all three. Giving and receiving a 
drink of water makes a covenant of hospitality in the 
East. His desire to enter into " friendly personal 
relations with all kinds of people " is here explained. 

He disclosed the other universal, that God is a 
spirit, not localized, and can be worshiped by the 
spirit of any man, without ceremonial; that he is 
Father, and wishes only unpretentious reality in the 
worship. On no other occasion had Jesus disclosed 
such truths as he does to-day, in his actions and 
conversation. 

7. "Jesus and the Individual" Once More. 
The conversations with Nicodemus and this woman 
are a revelation of his estimate of the individual. 
The individual is the unit of society, and to save one 
is to save a soul from death and set transforming 



78 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

social influences to work, however obscure or 
degraded that one is. Three-fourths of the choicest 
sayings of Jesus, preserved for us, were spoken to 
individuals or to very small groups of people. 
Because of their intrinsic worth and their social 
value; because they must be saved one at a time; 
because impressions are more powerful when truth 
is told to just one, and the sense of responsibility is 
felt more keenly ; because one can remember it more 
accurately when receiving truth in this way — for all 
these reasons Jesus works with individuals and 
entrusts them with his rarest treasures with 
ungrudging and unreserved generosity. To Nico- 
demus he speaks the great truth of rebirth; to this 
woman the great truths of man's unity and God's 
spirituality, on which he is founding a new and 
world-conquering religion. There are nineteen pri- 
vate interviews mentioned in the Gospels. Jesus dis- 
covered the individual. 

8. Unerring Pedagogics. His purpose is to save 
this woman. The difficulties in the way are tremen- 
dous. His methods of work are unerring, because 
based upon fundamental conditions. The same meth- 
ods he will employ here as elsewhere, but in a unique 
way. Two invariable rules he observes — to begin at 
her point of view ; to support his work by his own 
convincing personality. 

Beginning at her point of view, he finds there 
three things in the way : race prejudice against him 
as a Jew; ignorance of things beyond her stupid 



SEVENTH DAY 79 



world; a sinful life, without shame. The prejudice 
he broke down by disclosing common wants in ask- 
ing a drink and thus entering into a pact of tempo- 
rary hospitality ; by taking a kindly personal interest 
in her ; by getting her to do something for him. Her 
ignorance he enlightens by finding her religious ideas 
and completing them, thus piquing her curiosity and 
awaking a desire for further knowledge. She had 
Messianic ideas, and from those he led her to him as 
Messiah. Her sense of need he arouses by first 
awakening a sense of sin, telling her kindly of her 
past and present life. Through all the talk he was 
bringing his personality to bear on her sodden soul, 
as he disclosed sympathy, insight, knowledge, and 
power. He saved her thoroughly. 

9. Fruits. The woman and many Samaritans 
saved; the disciples trained in knowledge and sym- 
pathy; a nucleus for future work, when Philip and 
the apostles shall preach to Samaria ; a new experi- 
ence for Jesus, who will have such a good opinion of 
the Samaritans that he will construct a parable of 
the " Good Samaritan " and be called in derision " a 
Samaritan " ; some great teachings and a holy exam- 
ple for us who read it. 



Ill 

PERIOD OF POPULARITY 

In Galilee, December A. d. 27 to April A. D. 29. 

35. Heals the nobleman's son. John 4 : 46-54. 

36. Rejected at Nazareth. Luke 4 : 16-30. 

37. Headquarters established at Capernaum. Matt. 4 : 

13-16 ; Luke 4 : 31. 

38. Calls four permanent companions. Matt. 4 : 18-22 ; 

Mark I : 16-20 ; Luke 5 : 1-11. 

39. "A day in Capernaum." Matt. 8 : 14-17 ; Mark I : 

21-34; Luke 4: 31-41. 

40. A tour of teaching and healing. Matt. 4 : 23 ; 8 : 2-4 ; 

Mark 1 : 35-45 ; Luke 4 : 42-44 ; 5 : 12-16. 

41. The paralytic borne by four. Matt. 9 : 2-8 ; Mark 

2 : 1-12 ; Luke 5 : 17-26. 

42. The call of Matthew. Matt. 9 : 9-13 ; Mark 2 : 

13-17; Luke 5 : 27-32. 

43. The question of fasting. Matt. 9 : 14-17 ; Mark 2 : 

18-22 ; Luke 5 : 33-39. 

44. At the pool of Bethesda. John 5. 

45. Plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath. Matt. 12 : 

1-8 ; Mark 2 : 23-28 ; Luke 6 : 1-5. 

46. Man with withered hand. Matt. 12 : 9-14 ; Mark 3 : 

1-6 ; Luke 6:6-11. 

47. The excited multitudes. Matt. 12 : 15-21 ; Mark 3 : 

7-12. 

48. Twelve apostles chosen. Mark 3 : 13-19 ; Luke 6 : 

12-16 ; Matt. 10 : 2-4. 

49. The Sermon on the Mount. Matt. 5-7 ; Luke 6 : 

20-49. 

50. The centurion's servant healed. Matt. 8 : 1, 5-13 ; 

Luke 7 : 1-10. 

51. The widow's son raised from death. Luke 7 : 11-17. 

F 



52. A message from John in prison. Matt, n : 2-19; 

Luke 7 : 18-35. 

53. The unbelieving cities denounced. Matt. 11 : 20-24. 

54. Docility and submission commanded. Matt. II : 

25-3°- 

55. The anointing in a Pharisee's house. Luke 7 : 36-50. 

56. Another preaching tour and new companions. Luke 

8 : 1-3. 

57. Warnings to wicked enemies. Matt. 12 : 23-45 ; 

Mark 3 : 19-30. 

58. Christ's spiritual kindred. Matt. 12 : 46-50 ; Mark 

3 : 31-35 ; Luke 8 : 19-21. 

59. The new type of parables. Matt. 13 : I— 53 ; Mark 

4 : I-35 ; Luke 8 :4-i8. 

60. The stilling of the tempest. Matt. 8 : 18, 23-27 ; 

Mark 4 : 35-41 ; Luke 8 : 22-25. 

61. He heals the Gadarenes. Matt. 8 : 28-34 ; Mark 5 : 

I-20 ; Luke 8 : 26-39. 

62. Jairus' daughter and the infirm woman. Matt. 9 : 

18-26 ; Mark 5 : 21-43 ; Luke 8 : 40-56. 

63. Blind and dumb healed. Matt. 9 : 27-34. 

64. Second rejection at Nazareth. Matt. 13 : 54-58 ; 

Mark 6 : 1-6. 

65. Another preaching tour. Matt. 9 : 35 ; Mark 6 : 6. 

66. The Twelve sent forth. Matt. 9 : 36 to 11 : 1 ; Mark 

6 : 7-13 ; Luke 9 : 1-6. 

67. Death of John the Baptist. Matt. 14 : 1-12 ; Mark 

6 : 14-29 ; Luke 9 : 7-9. 

68. The feeding of the five thousand. Matt. 14 : 13-21 

Mark 6 : 30-46 ; Luke 9 : 10-17 ; John 6 : 1-14. 

69. Across the lake to Capernaum. Matt. 14 : 22-36 

Mark 6 : 45-56 ; John 6 : 15-21. 

70. Searching discourse on the Bread of Life. John 6 

22-71. 

71. Attacked for disregarding tradition. Matt. 15 : 1-20 

Mark 7 : 1-23. 



EIGHTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FIRST OPEN REPULSE 
Luke 4 : 16-31 

I. In Galilee. The ministry in Galilee lasted 
about eighteen months, say from December, a. d. 27, 
to the Passover, a. d. 29, and is known as the 
" Period of Popularity," as contrasted with the 
Judean ministry, known as the " Period of Ob- 
scurity." For our knowledge of the Judean min- 
istry we are indebted to John the Evangelist; 
for our knowledge of the Galilean ministry, 
to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, for John speaks of 
only three events of that great period — the second 
miracle in Cana, a visit to Jerusalem at a festival, 
and the feeding of the five thousand. The beginning 
of work in Galilee seemed to most of the disciples to 
be the real beginning of Jesus' ministry, for it was 
not till after that time that they were constantly with 
him, and the sources upon which they drew for in- 
formation afforded most accurate and vivid knowl- 
edge of that period. John, however, was the seer, 
and he was studying Christ himself rather than his 
work in detail. He began with him in his pre- 
incarnate state and traced the revelation of himself 
through his ministry. The synoptics will now be our 
chief teachers for a while. 

83 



84 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

2. A Promising Outlook. As said before, the 
Jews of Galilee were active and practical and 
mingled with the outside world. That saved them 
from petty details of ceremonial and tradition and 
from much race prejudice and pride. There were 
many Gentiles living among them, into whose minds 
Jesus would drop living seeds of truth that would 
ultimately grow into Christian virtues. The area 
was small, being sixteen hundred square miles; the 
population was very dense, there being, at that time, 
two hundred and four towns and villages, according 
to Josephus. Jesus could cover the territory more 
easily; his fame would travel faster still. The soil 
was very fertile, in valley and seashore ; the fish in- 
dustry was enormous. This made an active and 
successful agricultural and commercial people. 

Moreover, it was the highway of the nations, 
caravans constantly passing between Egypt and Da- 
mascus, and between Phoenicia and the Euphrates 
region. He would thus touch the great outside 
world, which he was carrying in his heart. After 
passing through Samaria, he did his first deed of the 
Galilean ministry at Cana, in curing the son of a 
nobleman at Capernaum, a Gentile. This was an 
auspicious opening of a new era in his work. 

3. Visiting His Old Home. He would very nat- 
urally wish to bestow some special benefit on the 
neighbors and friends of his home town, and es- 
pecially upon the companions of his boyhood. If 
he made any distinction between people at all, it 



EIGHTH DAY 85 



would be in their favor. He would like a little quiet 
rest, also, in the home that sheltered his growing 
life. Here too, he would enjoy making the declara- 
tion that he wanted to make at Jerusalem and that 
he had privately made in isolated Samaria, as he 
came along. To tell his old friends that their 
dream of a Messiah was at last realized, would give 
him a kind of pleasure that he could not get by tell- 
ing it at Jerusalem. 

And he had seemingly prepared them for it. He 
knew that " no prophet is acceptable in his own 
country." It was true of him, as of others, that he 
must first establish his fame somewhere else before 
the people who have seen him grow up from child- 
hood will give him due recognition. The Galileans 
had not seen his greatness during the thirty years 
that he lived among them, yet now they knew of the 
first miracle; they had learned, through those who 
attended the feast at Jerusalem that he had created 
a sensation at the capital ; they had since heard ru- 
mors of his wonderful words and works; they 
might have heard of the cure wrought several days 
before, at Cana, on the nobleman's son, as Cana was 
only a few miles away. He had gained the neces- 
sary honor elsewhere and can now hope to be " ac- 
ceptable in his own country." 

4. Invited to Speak. It was natural that he 
should go to church on the Sabbath, for it was a 
habit of his, a help to him and an opportunity for 
doing good. He went. It was also natural that he 



86 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

should be asked to read the lesson and make the talk, 
for the meetings were informal and the officers al- 
ways called on worthy visitors to give a word of in- 
struction or exhortation; besides they had special 
reason for wanting to hear from him. They had 
heard about his preaching and his miracles; they 
must hear and see for themselves. He had done 
things for Cana and Jerusalem and Capernaum — 
will he at last do something for his own people? 
Curiosity to see him, local pride in their famous 
townsman, envious demand that he do as much for 
them as for other towns — these emotions blend and 
will produce — what? It will depend on whether he 
gratifies or disappoints them. 

5. Charming His Hearers. During the reading 
and exposition they sat in a sort of wonder that one 
of their own boys could speak with such unction 
and grace. He selected the Scripture with perfect 
care, the most vivid description of the Messiah's mis- 
sion in the Old Testament, and one that appealed to 
all the fondest sentiments of the Jewish heart. In his 
immediate comments he evidently told them that 
their Messiah would do all those things for them. 
It struck the chords of holy memories and inspiring 
hopes. It brought to mind the deliverance from 
Babylonian captivity, of which Isaiah had written, 
and the promise of other deliverance. It reminded 
them of the old Jubilee year, when lands reverted 
to their original owners, slaves were manumitted, 
and liberty was again enjoyed by all. Their Messiah 



EIGHTH DAY 87 



would bring those blessings either in literal or spirit- 
ual form, or both. They probably thought only of 
the temporal form, while Jesus thought of the spirit- 
ual, and, to a degree, the temporal also. 

Note the three functions of the Messiah here. 
He is to be first an evangelist, preaching good tidings 
to the needy. The literal poor, restored to their 
lands in the olden time, might stand for any needy, 
for the good tidings includes many blessings. He is, 
also, to be a healer. Diseases of the eyes were most 
common, and are to-day, in Palestine. Long im- 
prisonment in the dark impaired the eye, and the 
one who ushers in the Jubilee blessings opens up 
closed eyes. And he will be emancipator, for broken 
and bruised captives. Probably, in commenting on 
it, Jesus went further into the meaning of the Mes- 
siah's work of preaching, healing, and setting free. 
We can easily imagine he did. He stood, while read- 
ing, and sat down to speak, and through it all they 
were under a spell. But the spell was soon broken. 

6. Enraging His Hearers. Their rage came on 
in an instant. They were Orientals, and that means 
they were subject to sudden and violent changes of 
mood. They had a violent shock, which explains the 
revulsion of feeling. They felt the spell of his per- 
sonality and his words, in reading and commenting, 
but all along they were in a state of feeling that 
could only be gratified by a miracle. They expected 
it. Two sentiments required it, envy and jealousy 
— envy because Cana and Capernaum had been 



88 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

favored ; jealousy of one whom they had been in the 
habit of considering like themselves, which could 
only be removed by a miracle. That expectation led 
them to fall under his spell and kept them under it 
for a while. Suddenly they found out that he would 
not favor them with the miracle, and it made them 
all the more furious that they had distinctly re- 
quested it and had been flatly refused. At the same 
time he made the stupendous claim that he himself 
was the Messiah, of whom he had been reading and 
speaking. That lifted him in his own esteem far 
above themselves, although they knew he was only 
Joseph's son, the carpenter. 

Their anger was all the more furious for his 
calm, undisturbed consciousness of being endowed 
with the Holy Spirit and of possessing the powers to 
fulfil his mission to remedy all the world's wretch- 
edness and sins. Others preached him ; he preached 
himself. The distressing thing to him was that they 
cared more for the miracles than for the worker of 
miracles. The reserved power behind the miracles 
was unnoticed. His mission was to the spirits of 
men, and they would not see anything but a mission 
to their bodies. It pained him that they esteemed 
his wonders more highly than his words. He knew 
that as they grew more used to them they would 
grow indifferent to them, and to him, as well. He 
did not attach the importance to his miracles that his 
own disciples did. He even went so far as to say, in 
the parable of Dives and Lazarus, that they had a 



EIGHTH DAY 89 



limited value in leading men to salvation. There 
was no hope for them unless they saw in the mira- 
cles a " sign " of something very significant. They 
did not. Their eyes were blinded by their own 
prejudices, their own limitations, and it was not so 
much that they could not as that they would not see. 

Thus it came about that they grew more and 
more furious. All unholy passions seemed to min- 
gle and swell in their bosoms into a wild storm, 
and gathering him up, they hurried him out of 
the synagogue, to hurl him to his death from the 
precipice near-by. He raised himself into a majesty 
that overawed them for the moment, and walked 
away in dignity from their midst. 

7. Finding His Consolation. It was a painful 
conviction, now made clear, that he must leave his 
townsmen unblest, perhaps till after his earthly life 
was past. But comfort was given to him — by the 
loving Spirit who was empowering and guiding him ; 
by the encouraging Scriptures; by the calm inner 
conviction that his mission must continue ; by the re- 
membrance of his reception in Samaria, which was 
a prophecy of success among non-Jewish people ; by 
his perception of the better impulses in these people 
at Nazareth, which would, in many cases, bring 
them to him in days to come. He also knew that 
there were other people, even in Galilee, who were 
ready to believe in him as well as in his miracles, 
and that Capernaum will furnish him a better center 
for his work. 



90 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

NINTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FIRST ORGANIZED OPPOSITION 

Malt. 9 : 2-8 ; Mark 2 : 1-12 ; Luke 5 : 17-26 

i. In Capernaum. There he made his headquar- 
ters after the brutal rejection at Nazareth. It was 
the center of Galilean life and activity. There was 
a dense population in the cities all around it. Fertile 
lands lay along the sea. Enormous supplies of fish 
were afforded by the waters. It was on the high- 
way of the nations, and put Jesus in touch with the 
outside world. It was a convenient point from which 
he could make excursions into all the outlying com- 
munities. His mother and the family lived there, 
and some of his disciples made it their home, though 
he seems to have lived mostly with the members of 
his spiritual family. 

2. His Method of Working. The means by 
which he worked were speech and miracles, and he 
could reveal himself perfectly by the two. His 
speaking was of three kinds. There was first of all 
teaching, in which he expounded the Scriptures, es- 
pecially the Scriptures concerning the Messiah and 
the righteousness he required. And there was 
preaching, in which he sought to win them to repent- 
ance and faith, by all the forms of warning and ap- 
peal that would serve his purpose. And it was such 
preaching as they had never heard before, and they 
constantly contrasted it with the preaching of their 



NINTH DAY 



religious leaders. Those leaders preached petty 
rules ; he preached the principles and truths that lie 
back of the rules. They preached life by means of 
wearisome labors in keeping laws; he preached life 
by a vital faith in God that would show itself in 
labors of love. They preached conformity to the tra- 
ditions of the rabbis ; he preached confidence in the 
Father of truth and life. They quoted authorities; 
he was an authority. They put weights on their 
disciples; he put wings on them. Being the source 
and embodiment of the truth he preached, he gave 
it the peculiar attractive quality of originality, au- 
thority, and sympathy. He also made use of con- 
versation, sanctifying the social relationships and 
opportunities. 

He did not proclaim himself as the Messiah, whose 
reign he assured them was coming on. To have 
done so would have excited the impulsive and rough 
Galileans to revolution against Rome and unfitted 
them for knowing him as Messiah at all. It would 
also have brought on him an earlier and more effect- 
ive persecution from the officials. He avoided both 
perils as best he could. His plan was to win them to 
the acceptance of the truths he taught about the 
Messiah and his reign and the duties of those who 
would be his subjects; to attach them to himself as 
the authoritative teacher of these truths ; then to let 
them see for themselves that he and he alone fulfilled 
all the conditions and was the Messiah he spoke 
about. 



92 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

The way he spoke had a unique charm. His 
speech was constant. Whether he was with one or 
many, he steadily poured forth a stream of golden 
truth. It was wise. The one truth suited to the oc- 
casion was always spoken. It was informal. No 
prepared sermons were delivered, but out of his 
full resources he could call up just what was needed, 
and when it came out, it seemed so suited to the per- 
son, or persons, that it was like a kindly favor. It 
was pictorial. Animate and inanimate nature fur- 
nished figures that flashed forth his truth with many- 
colored beauty. It was concrete and not abstract; 
specific and not general; personal and not imper- 
sonal ; living and not dead. His personality gave a 
charm to it all that no one could explain. 

He employed miracles also, though he knew the 
way the people abused them, by coming to think 
more of the unusual than of the common blessings, 
more of the miracles than of the Man and the truths 
he taught ; then by becoming indifferent both to the 
miracles and the Man. Yet he performed them. 
There was so much sickness and distress to relieve ; 
such an inability on the part of the people to think 
of a Messiah who did not work miracles; so many 
who really would come to discern the Worker in the 
work ; such a natural ability in him to do supernat- 
ural things. 

3. His Growing Fame. The teachings, the mira- 
cles, and the Man behind them all stirred the people 
to their depths, though he was constantly putting 



NINTH DAY 93 



restraints on himself and on their rude, tumultuous 
enthusiasm. The land was full of rumors of him. 
Capernaum soon had throngs of visitors inquiring 
about him. The sick and sorrowing sought him by 
thousands. They talked of his striking sayings and 
his wonderful miracles. He soon became the con- 
spicuous figure in Galilee, and was made all the more 
conspicuous by the unusual industry he showed, for 
in the East the strenuous life has always been prac- 
tically unknown. And his days, and even nights, 
were full of devitalizing toil. His old enemies, down 
at Jerusalem, would hear about him and it would be 
strange if they themselves were not heard from. 

4. Enemies on His Track. This is at Caper- 
naum, the latter part of March, a. d. 28, and it is the 
first time we have seen them since he left Judea in 
December. Jesus met with opposition at Nazareth, 
but it was personal, fitful, and local, not official or 
general, though it was well-nigh permanent, for 
they were ready to reject him the second time. At 
Jerusalem the opposition was personal, because he 
had wounded pride, offended prejudices, and inter- 
fered with unholy, selfish power over victims. But 
the persons were officials, and they made their op- 
position an official matter. They probably saw him 
leave Judea with great pleasure and with the faint 
hope that they might never hear of him again. But 
now, in a few weeks, they began to get distressing 
rumors of what he was saying and doing up in 
Galilee. 



94 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

They felt that he was undermining them, and they 
really thought the faith of the people was imperiled. 
All vicious passions united in wearing the garb of 
piety and demanding his defeat. They saw that the 
time had come for something more than irregular, 
personal opposition. They must organize for it and 
send their shrewdest agents up into Galilee to defeat 
him. Their purpose was first to silence him, by 
showing him that he is violating the law and by 
discrediting him with the people ; if that is not pos- 
sible, then to bring a charge against him on which 
their court will silence him; if that will not defeat 
him, then to kill him, legally or illegally. Such is 
their purpose, as we learn from the study of the 
whole history. Their method was to have spies fol- 
low him, who would work steadily on two lines — to 
injure his standing and find something in his deeds 
and utterances upon which they can bring a charge 
of violating either the Jewish or Roman law. We 
shall find that they are constantly bringing three 
charges against him — that he is a bad man, as when 
they accuse him of being a glutton and drunkard and 
in league with the prince of the demons; that he 
violates their ceremonial law as to fastings, purifica- 
tions and the Sabbath ; that he is guilty of blasphemy 
in claiming powers which belong only to God, as in 
proposing to destroy and rebuild the temple in three 
days, and in forgiving sins, and blasphemy in claim- 
ing to be equal with God. 

All of this comes out in the subsequent history, but 



NINTH DAY 95 



to-day we see them in the house where he heals the 
paralytic and forgives his sins and they become 
known to us. 

5. The Occasion. It was a very striking occasion 
and entirely suitable for their opening attack. It was 
" one of the days of the Son of Man " whose many 
deeds can be followed through the single day. 
Delitzsch has a little book entitled, "A Day in Caper- 
naum," in which he follows Jesus from the morning 
to the close of that very day, and draws a vivid pic- 
ture of this healing of the paralytic. It was a day 
in which his enemies could see what a tidal wave 
of popularity was rising around him. It was a 
typical miracle, just the kind that Jesus loved to 
work. It was a complete miracle, for the spirit as 
well as the body of the sick man was in a condition 
to accept healing. He was able to see in the " sign " 
that which was signified. Jesus could have the 
double pleasure and could use the occasion to teach 
by means of the miracle and show that sin may often 
account for sickness. Directly or indirectly, much 
of our sickness can be traced to sin. Oftentimes we 
are inclined to blame Providence or our conditions 
when we ourselves are to blame. Had he only 
cured the man, his enemies could have found no 
fault, but he pronounced his sins forgiven, the sins 
that had, no doubt, caused the disease. Then they 
began to rage within themselves and would soon 
have gotten to whispering their charge of blasphemy 
among the people. But Jesus anticipated them. 



96 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

6. Their Defeat. He had no sooner pronounced 
the offensive word than the animus of his enemies 
disclosed itself. They were boiling with rage and 
did not need to speak. He knew them when they 
first came into the dense throng and knew their 
business. He saw their feelings in their faces, and 
besides he read into their very souls. He knew the 
charge they were making against him and would in- 
dustriously circulate — that, in claiming to forgive 
sins, he was claiming a prerogative belonging to 
God alone. They would have been right, if he had 
been only a man. 

He meets their claim in a perfect way. He reads 
their thoughts and thus shows that he is something 
more than a mere man ; he claims to be Son of Man, 
and that lifts him above their rank, at least in his own 
estimation. He actually forgave the man's sins, and 
treated his body as well, as the fellow's happy face 
showed to the satisfaction of all. If their contention 
is correct, that only God can forgive sins, then he is 
God, for he actually does it and the subsequent life of 
the man must have been incontestable proof to all 
doubters. 

The defeat of the opposition is complete, yet they 
are all the more furious for being treated with such 
destructive irony. Their exposure, however, seems 
only to themselves, for perhaps no one else in the 
crowd knows whom he has in mind. They are all 
the more determined to defeat him, and from this 
time on they will be just as industrious as he. 



TENTH DAY gj 



TENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FIRST ORGANIZATION 
Mark j : JJ-ig ; Luke 6 : 12-16 

He is now well into the great period of popularity 
and, as yet, we hear nothing about organization. 
But it will come. It is inevitable. 

1. The Necessity. His kingdom consists essen- 
tially only of the King and his subjects, himself and 
his disciples. But they are fellow-subjects with each 
other and must get together, sometime, somehow. 
" The kingdom of heaven is within " them, but will 
manifest itself in their outer relations to each other. 
They have a common life and that will work out 
for itself an organism, as life must, or perish. To 
be near to him is to get near each other with many 
mutual interests that call for understandings and ar- 
rangements and co-operation. They will be needed 
by him and he must have methods of using them 
and training them for the future. The future is in 
their hands and they must be like an army ready to 
meet the issues. Yes, some sort of organization will 
be needed, sooner or later. 

2. The Occasion. It was some weeks after the 
day of opposition of which we studied, probably mid- 
summer, a. d. 28. Between that day and this we find 
such events as the calling of Matthew the publican 
to be a permanent disciple; the raising of Jairus' 
daughter and curing of the woman with the issue 



98 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

of blood ; healing the deaf and blind demoniac ; most 
likely the festival at Jerusalem told only by John 
(chap. 5); the discourse on fasting; the Sabbath 
controversies in the cases of plucking and eating 
wheat and healing the man with the withered hand, 
on the Sabbath Day. The interest was growing 
more intense, disciples were multiplying, and oppo- 
sition was becoming more determined, vicious, and 
skilful. 

At that time, he chose the Twelve. The large 
number of disciples needed to have more points of 
contact with him and with each other; the Twelve 
would give heart to the others and be companions 
to him when reverses came ; they would help him, as 
through them he multiplied himself for the urgent 
and important work to be done in so short a time; 
they would be ready to take up the work and carry 
it on, after being trained by him. They would be the 
embryo church. Great responsibilities will rest on 
his disciples when he leaves them — preaching the 
whole truth, training future disciples, putting his 
teachings into permanent form, in writing. 

Jesus wrote nothing, and seemed indifferent about 
preserving his sayings. He seemed so, only, for he 
really adopted the most perfect means of preserving 
them for the future. He gave them to men who 
were in the habit of depending on their memories 
rather than on written memoranda. He gave them, 
when the emotional condition of the apostles was 
such as to fix those sayings clearly and surely in 



TENTH DAY 99 



their memories. He spoke to them in the privacy 
of personal interviews and they would remember it 
all far better than if they heard in an audience. He 
always spoke with such confidence in them that they 
felt an added desire to give a right account of him. 
But we must not forget the promise made, later on, 
that the Spirit who had guided and aided him would 
bring all things to their remembrance. He will train 
them by imparting truth, giving them work to do 
and, best of all, by imparting himself to them — his 
purpose, his faith, his love of God and of humanity. 

To quote from Dr. John A. Broadus : " Through- 
out this great ministry in Galilee, and the periods 
that will follow after, the reader ought to trace care- 
fully the progress of the history along several lines : 
(i) The Saviour's progressive self-manifestation; 
(2) the gradual training of the Twelve, who are to 
carry on his teaching and work after his death; (3) 
the deepening and spreading hostility of the Jewish 
influential class and official rulers. By constantly 
observing those parallel lines, it will be seen that the 
history and teaching of our Lord exhibit a vital 
growth moving on to an end by him foreseen (Luke 
12 : 50), when the hostility of the rulers will culmi- 
nate, as he before the Sanhedrin avows himself to 
be the Messiah, and the Twelve will be almost pre- 
pared to succeed him." 

3. Preparation for It. He had been deliberately 
preparing for it. As soon as he settled in Caper- 
naum he went along by the lake, one morning, and 



IOO THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

called two pairs of brothers, Peter and Andrew, 
James and John, to be with him constantly. They 
had been with him a great deal, but had been at lib- 
erty to return to home and employments at their own 
pleasure. Now he wants them with him constantly. 
That day of opposition he had called a man who was 
sitting at the place where they collected taxes on in- 
going and outgoing goods, and Matthew went with 
him. Other disciples might have been asked, at dif- 
ferent times, to follow him constantly. But certain 
it is that, when the right moment came, he had a 
group of men around him suited to his purpose, 
whom he called the apostles — the Twelve Apostles. 
They went through three stages — discipleship, con- 
stant attendance on him for a while, permanent 
attendance as apostles. 

4. Its Embryo Character. It was the nucleus of 
the church, though as yet there were no women in it, 
and the men were being trained for office and were 
more like children than grown-up people. As far as 
it goes, it is suited to the life each one has and to the 
vital relations they sustain to Christ and each other. 
By and by, under the Spirit's direction, the organism 
will grow more complex, with its composite mem- 
bership and its several offices, and become the New 
Testament church. Even then, organism will be 
adapted to the life it expresses, and the simplicity 
of the church will show forth the wisdom of its 
Founder. They had a treasurer and must have had 
other divisions of duties. Serving and preparing 



TENTH DAY 



for future service — that is what the Twelve are 
doing from this time on. 

5. The New Bond. The tie that bound them was 
not the organization ; rather, the tie was what made 
the organization possible. The common human life 
is the bond of natural human brotherhood ; the new 
life in Christ is the bond of the higher brotherhood 
in him. The disciples had that life by virtue of being 
disciples ; they entered into the new society by virtue 
of having that life. In him they formed a new 
brotherhood, with common life, hopes, purposes, 
destiny. The ligament of life is the bond of this 
brotherhood. The church is to be composed of those 
who are born again and are alive with the life of the 
kingdom ; the church is the instrument employed by 
the King to bring men into the kingdom. 

6. The New Law. He stated the law that is to be 
regnant, both in the wider kingdom and in the nar- 
rower organization within the kingdom, when he 
said " Follow me." That law is loyalty to the King, 
involving both obedience to him and imitation of 
him. Not loyalty to truth by itself, nor to humanity, 
with whom we are bound in the bonds of the natural 
life, but to him, the person, first, and, in consequence 
of it and in his power, then to truth and humanity 
too. The apostles recognized the demand as just 
and kind ; so do we. Being trie source of truth, he 
is able to give us the only devotion to truth that will 
survive the daily struggle; being Son of Man and 
center of humanity, " He established within the life 



102 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

of the world his own, as a new center of gravity and 
cohesion and he thus made personal loyalty to him- 
self the vital force which was to transform the 
whole organism of society." 

No other teacher can demand this of his followers 
and keep the respect of mankind. Less than this 
Jesus cannot demand. A permanent devotion to 
truth and an abiding enthusiasm for humanity mark 
his disciples, cultured and ignorant, impulsive and 
phlegmatic, old and young. 

7. The New Motive. The only motive that can 
make the principle of loyalty steadily operative is the 
motive of love — love for him and for his. When he 
called them they at once responded. There was no 
need to stop and ask themselves whether they should 
do as he demanded. There was something in them 
that impelled them to do so and they found in his 
call just what they most deeply desired. Love had 
first been kindled by him. The root of it was 
faith — confidence in him. They saw his goodness 
and something of his greatness. It laid hold of them 
and won their faith in him. The root of faith bore 
the fruit of love. His loveliness and lovingness 
made them similar. That love was the consummate 
flower of their hearts. It was a new form of love 
brought to the world, though it is now the common- 
place of the Christian life. Their motive was so 
strong that, though they knew it would cost them 
more than they could tell, they followed him. 

8. The New Vocation. It is service. That is the 



TENTH DAY 103 



vocation he came here to fulfil and to that he calls 
them. He calls himself " minister " and " servant." 
He calls them " apostles." " Sent," for they shall 
be sent to serve. Paul (Phil. 2 : 5-11) tells us that 
Christ had exchanged his place of equality with 
God for one of service and had been sent to serve 
God in the field of human life, where we now find 
him. The apostles are to be sent into the same field 
of service. While he is training them for it, he will 
be sending them out on trial trips, now and then. 
" Man shall have charge of man," as Matheson 
says, and "man's education is to be the healer of 
humanity." And so to enter at all upon this vocation 
is to be animated by this spirit. To be great in it is 
to be most abundant in its ministry. There is no 
other way than this. 

9. Its Stability. It is a society that will last 
through all disciplines and warfares and enter- 
prises. It will last because of Him with whom they 
are vitally connected. Its stability is due to its 
Founder; his character gave him unwavering con- 
fidence; he never felt the sense of weakness; he 
never saw disparity between his ideals and his con- 
duct ; he never made a mistake, never had to repent 
— his church will last. His choice was wise, for he 
chose from all social grades and all callings and tal- 
ents. He gave himself to them, endowing them with 
his own ideals and purposes, till they believed in him 
absolutely and unwaveringly and in themselves on 
his account. 



104 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



ELEVENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF PREACHING FIRST PRINCIPLES : THE SER- 
MON ON THE MOUNT 
Matt. J to 7 ; Luke 6 : 17-26 

I. The Urgent Need of Such Instruction. 
(1) For the New Apostles. It was to be expected 
that he would talk much with the Twelve whom he 
had chosen for the honors and responsibilities of 
leadership in his kingdom, that he would do so, soon 
after choosing them, and set them right on all the 
questions of current discussion and misunderstand- 
ing. The office of apostle was so important that he 
had planned for it from the beginning, had taken 
time to study each man's fitness for it, and had spent 
a whole night in prayer before making his choices 
final. If care must be taken in filling the office, care 
must be taken in fitting men into the office. Their 
growth in fitness would depend on their growth in 
knowledge of the truths, ideals, responsibilities, and 
duties of those who constitute Christ's kingdom. 
But at present those men have the false notions of 
their time, and they must be taught aright. False 
views prevailed about the Messiah himself and his 
kingdom, about the law of Moses, which had been 
supplanted by the traditions of the rabbis, and about 
personal morality. All the disciples were saturated 
with those false views. Morality was external 
rather than internal, inhering in ceremonials rather 



ELEVENTH DAY 105 



than in character. Jesus was constantly training 
them, and probably went over many of these teach- 
ings several times, emphasizing what was needed at 
a particular moment. 

(2) For the Multitudes. The multitudes went 
with him everywhere, scarcely giving him time to 
sleep. They shared the common misconception, and 
were not only ignorant, but excited. They supposed 
that if he were the Messiah at all, he would be the 
kind of one they had been taught to expect. They 
were under the domination of the ideas taught by the 
rabbis, even if now they were under the spell of his 
personality. To uncoil the bonds of tradition and 
wrap them around with the robe of truth, to sober 
their wild imaginations — that was his duty. If 
Luke's report (6 : 17-26) is an abridged account of 
the sermon, then Jesus was followed by a great pro- 
miscuous crowd, who first went up to the height 
and followed him down to the level place, between 
the " Horns of Hattin," where he spoke to them. 
Matthew only tells of going to that level place. 

We notice that in all of the sermon Christ has in 
view the current errors and evils from which he was 
trying to win the people, and that each virtue he en- 
joins is the opposite of some vice, and each truth the 
opposite of some error then prevalent. We are 
indebted to these errors and evils, for they called 
forth from him a most wonderful statement of the 
principles that are fundamental and vital for all time. 

(3) For the Officials. Some of them were there 



106 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

and they had spies working through the crowd. As 
the Master sat and talked, with the Twelve sitting 
right at his feet and the excited multitudes ranged 
all around him, as far as they could hear his voice, 
he saw the hostile committeemen from Jerusalem, 
here and there, scowling, whispering, and seeking to 
destroy the effect of his words. We can easily find 
in his words a recognition of the influence of those 
men on the superficial multitude, and we seem to see 
in him an honest effort to enlighten the officials 
themselves, or at least to protect his hearers from 
their baneful influence. 

2. What He Said. All he talks about in the ser- 
mon is the kingdom of God and its subjects, as that 
is all they have been thinking about for months. 
But almost all they had thought about it was wrong, 
and now he will try to set them right. 

We can scarcely help seeing two vivid contrasts. 
One is between Jesus and Moses : the latter went up 
into the cloud-capped mountain to receive the stern 
law, amid the thunder and lightnings ; Jesus sat on 
the sunny slope and poured into listening ears the 
glorious truths that were to complete the laws of 
Moses. The other contrast is with the officials, who 
were always consulting what some old rabbi said, 
while Jesus spoke out of the original sources and 
was his own authority, vitalizing what he said with 
his own perfect life and endowing it with conquering 
power. Now we will hear what he says. 

(i) That the Kingdom Is a Question of Charac- 



ELEVENTH DAY 107 



ter (5 : 3 -12 )- The Jews thought they were in the 
kingdom because they were children of Abraham, 
but Jesus said it would be because they felt their 
poverty of soul and took a lowly place before God. 
Here are eight virtues mentioned, and the first is 
lowliness. The kingdom belongs to the lowly who 
receive it as God's mercy, not to the lofty, who 
claim it as their due. The next is the virtue of the 
mourner, to whom his own and others' needs are a 
sorrow, and whose happiness consists in the unique 
experience of having God's comfort, personally be- 
stowed. To be self-satisfied and indifferent is not 
blessed. The virtue of the meek is that he claims 
nothing, but gets all — the kingdom of God, the 
necessary temporal blessings, and the higher values 
that are in temporal things. The fourth virtue is 
a quenchless desire for righteousness. The King is 
righteous ; the kingdom is one of righteousness ; the 
subject must have a supreme desire for righteous- 
ness, rather than rulership. The people were already 
scheming for places of power in the splendid tem- 
poral kingdom they thought Jesus was about to es- 
tablish. They will lose, whereas a hunger and thirst 
for righteousness would put them in harmony with 
the righteous King, for they will be filled. The 
merciless are not in the kingdom, but the merciful 
are. They are like the King; they remember that 
they have received mercy ; they know that a merciful 
spirit is the occasion for the display of God's mercy ; 
they have a disposition that can be happy. Purity of 



108 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

heart is another virtue. The Pharisee sought the 
outward purification of the body, but the heart is of 
first importance. Impurity of heart is a wide human 
infirmity. When the heart is pure, there is no film 
over the spiritual vision and no double vision, but 
God in Christ is known and made known. 

Then there is the virtue of the peacemaker. The 
peacemaker is at peace and he actively promotes 
peace. He will be recognized as a child of God, be- 
cause he is doing what Jesus, " the Prince of Peace," 
the eternal Son of God, does, and that will bring 
happiness. Those who are patient and brave in per- 
secution are fortunate if the opposition is from 
wickedness and is for Christ's sake and not for their 
badness' sake. They get a firmer grip on their in- 
alienable possession, the kingdom of God ; win spe- 
cial rewards, and have noble fellowship with the 
worthies who have suffered likewise. 

Thus the kingdom of God is located within rather 
than without; is a matter of character rather than 
circumstances ; is the occasion of great happiness ; 
is a harmony with God and men, and a victory over 
evil. The Pharisees taught differently, and Jesus 
would rescue the people from their evil teachings. 

(2) That the Subjects Have a Mission to the 
Outside World (5 : 13-16). The two figures that 
describe their mission are that of " light " and that 
of " salt." As light's mission is to reveal objects, 
inspire to activity, and heal maladies, the disciples' 
mission is to reveal men's sins to them, reveal their 



ELEVENTH DAY 109 



King to them, guide them in the path to him, and 
enspirit them in taking that path. As salt has the 
double function of an antiseptic, arresting and pre- 
venting putrefaction, and a seasoning, fitting food 
to the taste, so the disciples, in the world, are to 
check its growing sins and season the world with the 
grace of righteousness. Had it not been for them, 
the world would have dropped to pieces in moral dis- 
integration, long ago. 

(3) That They Embody and Complete the Law 
of Moses (5 : 17-48). The Pharisees said that 
Christ destroyed the law. They confused the teach- 
ing of their rabbis with Moses. In fact, those teach- 
ings had supplanted Moses, and Christ utterly dis- 
regarded them, though he never violated the law of 
Moses. He completed that law, fulfilled it, filled it 
full. He did it by meeting all its requirements, by 
taking them, past its regulations, back to the prin- 
ciple from which it came, by taking them past the 
overt act of disobedience to the wrong thought out 
of which the act came. He completed Moses. 
Moses could only say, " Thou shalt not kill, steal, 
commit adultery," but Jesus says, " Thou shalt not 
cherish the thought of doing so." The principle of 
love is underneath the law, and Christ embodies that. 
The Jews took various oaths by sacred objects, but 
Jesus says you must make your mere word the 
trustworthy thing. Moses forbade personal revenge, 
and Jesus goes farther, and says that no one is to 
" resist an enemy in the spirit of revenge " nor " re- 



110 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

fuse to give to a beggar from a selfish motive." The 
scribes, though not Moses, did not discourage the 
hatred of one's enemies, but Jesus says they must 
act toward enemies as the heavenly Father does, and 
thus be perfect, as he is. The citizen of Christ's 
kingdom completes the law of Moses by having 
right thoughts and acting on the principle of love. 

(4) That Their Righteousness Is Real Rather 
than Dramatic (6 : 1-18). Three things were re- 
garded by the Pharisees as preeminently righteous 
deeds — almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. And they 
were doing them with as much publicity and repeti- 
tion as possible, merely to win the reward of pop- 
ular admiration. And they had their reward. But 
Jesus says these acts should be done solely for the 
reward of the Father's approval and blessings. 

(5) That They Put Primary Things First and 
Secondary Things Second (6 : 19-34). The treas- 
ures of earth are not to be surrendered, but subor- 
dinated. We find spiritual values on earth and in 
heaven, and our interest centers on them. Having 
the spiritual good and the Father's care, we must 
dismiss unbelieving anxiety, though we must put 
forth wise energy, even as birds gather food and 
flowers grow, without worry. To have the kingdom 
of God and his righteousness is to possess the pri- 
mary and permanent and to be assured of all second- 
ary and temporal blessings. This is substantially 
" the Simple Life." 

(6) That They are Brotherly (7 : 1-6). Remem- 



ELEVENTH DAY III 



bering their own weaknesses and prompted by the 
vital principle of brotherhood, they must refrain 
from censorious condemnation of the faults of 
others. Summing up all the teachings of the Old 
Testament in one grand, sweeping principle, they 
must not only refrain from doing to another what 
they would not have that other do to them, but ag- 
gressively do the good they would like him to do to 
them. 

(7) That They Have God's Help Always (7 : 
7-23). The help needed to perform all these duties 
will come from God, because he is their Father. 
But it will come on two conditions — that they per- 
fectly seek it, for " ask," " seek," " knock " are 
three words to describe complete effort; that they 
use the help thus gained from their Father in treat- 
ing their brothers in the right way, as taught in the 
" Golden Rule." 

Two warnings are given. He knows the ideal life 
is to be a struggle, and they must strive, even ago- 
nize, in entering and continuing it, but God's help 
is promised. The other warning is that all kinds of 
false teachers shall seek to turn them away from 
their course, but they are to be on their guard, apply 
some simple tests to them, discerning them by their 
fruits, and be assured that those teachers will receive 
adequate punishment from God. 

(8) They Are to Be Severely Tested (7 : 24-29). 
They will endure the test, not because of any claim, 
but because they do his will ; not because they hear 



THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



and appreciate, but because they do what he says. 
Then they will endure the severest tests. 

3. What He Omitted. He told them the kind of 
people who would be in the kingdom, but did not tell 
them how to enter. He taught that elsewhere, as to 
Nicodemus — " except a man be born again he can- 
not see the kingdom of God." Those who were in 
the kingdom had already been born again, and those 
who sought to practise its duties would at once find 
that they sorely needed to be born again. He did not 
say he was the King, but his very speech and bearing 
proclaimed him King. He said nothing of the atone- 
ment, yet he abundantly taught it elsewhere and it is 
the understood basis of his kingdom. 

He spoke in such contrast with the teachers of the 
day that the people were awed and subdued by him. 
The Pharisees made morality consist in keeping 
mere rules, while he made it the embodiment of prin- 
ciples : the people saw the difference. 



TWELFTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE BEGINNING OF PARABLES 
Matt. 13; Mark 4; Luke 8 

i. A New Method of Teaching. Here we find 
Jesus changing his method of teaching. Joseph 
Parker says that in Matthew 13 we enter "the pic- 
ture gallery of the church." It is probably in the au- 
tumn of a. d. 28, about the middle of the great 



TWELFTH DAY 113 



" Period of Popularity," and the conditions about 
him are becoming actually critical. He makes two 
changes — uses a peculiar kind of parable rather than 
illustrations of all kinds, in general ; uses it alto- 
gether, rather than occasionally. Those he now 
uses veil, rather than reveal, his thought, except to 
those who have been initiated into the secrets or 
" mysteries " of his truth, or those whose reverent 
curiosity prompts them to further inquiry. To all 
others they are confusing and puzzling. 

2. The Old Method. He always used parables, 
in the general meaning of the term, as all Oriental 
teachers have always done. A parable is a com- 
parison, and, in using it, the teacher compares what 
he wants to teach with what the pupil already knows, 
and thus the formerly unknown becomes well-known. 
That is the true pedagogy. The word " parable " 
comes from two Greek words, " ballo " to cast, and 
" para " along by the side of. It is something cast 
along by the side of the truth in order to teach it ; 
in other words, a comparison. It may be an object 
of nature or a story. It is the pictorial method, the 
artistic rather than the argumentative. It is logical, 
but concretely and not abstractly logical. Jesus al- 
ways used that method. His truths clothed them- 
selves in some object of nature or story of life. In 
his talks, lilies bloomed, birds sang, shepherds moved 
among confiding flocks, while all the forms of na- 
ture and the habits and activities of men were molds 
into which his teachings ran. The rabbis used par- 



H4 The disciple and his lord 

ables, but none so simple, so exquisite, so vivid, hav- 
ing such profound meanings, as those he used. It is 
claimed that at least one-third of all his sayings take 
the pictorial form — are, in fact, parables, in the gen- 
eral sense. But there came a time when he spoke in 
parables altogether, and in parables of a peculiar 
kind. 

3. Why He Changed. The change was required 
by his circumstances. He was constantly talking to 
three classes of people — the real disciples ; the inquir- 
ing, though superficial and untrustworthy, multi- 
tudes ; the watchful, resourceful, vindictive, purpose- 
ful officials and their representatives. The number 
of the disciples was increasing ; the multitudes were 
very large and very excited ; his enemies were more 
numerous and bold, every day, and were beginning 
to have some success in poisoning the minds of the 
multitude against him. 

Notice some of the events since the choosing of 
the Twelve and the Sermon on the Mount — healing 
the centurion's servant at Capernaum; raising the 
widow's son at Nain; the message of inquiry from 
John the Baptist, now in Herod's dungeon, over at 
the castle of Machaerus ; the anointing of his feet by 
the woman who was a sinner; the blasphemous 
charge of being in league with Beelzebub ; the report 
that he was insane, and the effort of his mother and 
brothers to get him away from his work. 

This constant preaching and healing and combat- 
ing was telling on him and on his work. His enemies 



TWELFTH DAY I I 5 



were listening to every word with the hope of hear- 
ing something treasonable or blasphemous. This 
demanded the change of method. The disciples, es- 
pecially the Twelve, must be further taught; the 
inquiries of the multitudes must be met: it must 
all be said in the presence of his enemies. If he 
continued to speak truths, in plainness, it would 
bring the opposition to a too early culmination or 
lead the masses to a revolution against Rome, with 
the hope that he would support and head them. As 
Orientals go to sleep early and awake early, his work 
always began with the sunrise. That very day, 
on which he began his parables, illustrates the situa- 
tion. That was the day on which they brought 
against him the blasphemous charge of being in 
league with the prince of the demons ; the day when 
the Pharisees demanded a sign and were treated with 
stinging, yet truthful, satire; the day when his 
mother and brothers sought to get him away from 
his work, because his enemies had actively spread 
the report that he was insane — all that and then these 
eight wonderful parables of the kingdom in one day. 
The pulse of Galilee was feverish and he himself 
must have been at a high nervous tension. 

He now began to speak in parables altogether, 
and such parables as would puzzle those who sought 
to do evil, rouse the curiosity of those who would 
want to inquire into their meaning, and enlighten 
those who were well enough instructed to see be- 
neath the veil or had opportunity to get his private 



Il6 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

explanations afterward. Thus the parables were 
prudent, retributive, enlightening. He referred to 
what was beneath the parables as " mysteries of the 
kingdom," not something that could not be under- 
stood, but only understood by the initiated. And 
he told the apostles that they should understand 
them because they had been initiated. What he 
taught about his own Messiahship and his very teach- 
ings themselves were mysteries to outsiders, but not 
to the disciples. As Doctor Rhees says, "Jesus meant 
to teach the teachable as well as to perplex the criti- 
cal by these illustrations." 

4. What He Taught in the Parables of the 
Kingdom. There are thirty of his parables preserved 
to us, spoken in groups at three different periods, 
between this time and his death, a year and a half 
later. There is, first, this group, about the kingdom 
as a whole, and preserved mostly in Matthew 13. 
Then there is the great group of " the Perean Par- 
ables," spoken about a year later, over in Perea, and 
recorded by Luke, in chap. 10 to 17. Lastly, there 
are the final parables of Judgment, spoken during 
his last days. We are interested in the group he 
spoke that first day, because they are a revelation 
of this current mood and of the current situation, 
as well as a transcript of his abiding thought. 
Matthew gives seven and Mark one. There is his- 
tory in these parables, and biography too. As to 
his kingdom, he says — 

(1) That It Will Meet with Different Kinds of 



TWELFTH DAY I 1 7 



Reception. " The Sower " (13 : 1-8, 18-23). To the 
inquiring disciples he explained it, while his enemies 
went away, puzzling their brains over it. Four kinds 
of hearers, like four kinds of soil, receive its seeds 
of truth. Dr. Bruce's happy characterization of 
these classes will be quoted : a. " The spiritually 
dull." Like the beaten-down path through the 
field, he is not in contact with the seed, imparts no 
stimulus to it, does not hold to it when the enemy 
snatches it away. b. " The inconsiderately impul- 
sive." As the thin layer of soil on a rock is quickly 
warmed and soon starts the seed growing, so some 
will appropriate the promise, without sense of sin or 
desire for pardon or room for the root of conviction. 
When the superficial joy fades, a flinty heart re- 
mains, c. " The preoccupied hearer." Thorns of 
the soul held previous possession — not the world, 
but " the cares of this world " ; not riches, but " the 
deceitfulness of riches " ; not other things, but " the 
lust of other things," whether he be poor or rich. 
d. The undivided hearer — not hardened, not super- 
ficial, not divided. The fruit will vary with capacity 
and culture and care. 

(2) That It Will Find Evil Growing Within Its 
Borders, Side by Side With the Good. " The Wheat 
and Tares " (13 : 24-30, 36-43). As an enemy some- 
times sows tares in a field, already sown with wheat, 
that grow up and look like the wheat, so evil has been 
sown in the world, where Christ's kingdom is strug- 
gling and Christ is longing for mastery. He does 



Il8 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

not, by force, destroy evil men and enterprises at 
once, because the good are interrelated with them; 
distinctions are not easily made ; the good will be all 
the nobler for the struggle with evil. If the evil can- 
not at once be killed, the good can be steadily culti- 
vated. 

(3) That It Itself Will Grow. " Parable of the 
Seed " (Mark 4 : 26-29). Two facts stand out about 
its growing. First, its growth is spontaneous, be- 
cause from sources of life within, even as seed, when 
once planted, will grow of itself, and the farmer 
can go on sleeping and rising, without further 
thought about it. Next, it is by stages, even as 
wheat grows through its periods. It is gradual, yet 
there are epochs in its history. Its power is not all 
to be unfolded at once, but that power grows greater 
with time. 

(4) That It Will Grow Extensively. " The Mus- 
tard Seed" (13 131, 32). Its beginnings are small, 
but it is a seed and therefore has life. Its growth 
will be beyond comparison. It has the attractive 
power of life itself, as it draws men to its shelter 
and its activities. That is the way it started in 
Palestine, in Europe, in America, in China, in 
Burma and everywhere else. That is the way it still 
grows. 

( 5 ) That It Will Grow Intensively. " The Leaven " 
( x 3 : 33)- As the leaven, or yeast, permeates the 
large mass of meal, so shall the truths of the king- 
dom permeate this world, great in its extent and 



TWELFTH DAY I 1 9 



needs. They must be applied to, must penetrate, 
master and communicate their own quality to the 
world, thereby transforming it, as the leaven trans- 
forms the meal. The kingdom must not fear, nor 
conform to, the world, but must make the world fear 
and conform to it. 

(6) That to be in the Kingdom of Heaven is the 
Greatest Earthly Blessing. The " Hidden Treasure " 
(13 144) and the "Precious Pearl" (13 145, 46) 
teach that. They had no vaults in those days, and 
men often hid their treasure in the ground. " The 
point of the parable is that the kingdom of heaven 
outweighs in value all else, and that the man who 
understands this will with pleasure part with all." 
The pearl merchant was seeking the best, and, find- 
ing it, was willing to give up all that was necessary to 
secure it. Seeking the best things in life, we find 
them when we find the kingdom of heaven, and must 
subordinate all things to it. 

(7) That It Will Attract Bad Men, Hypocrites 
and Impostors, who will find it desirable to take ad- 
vantage of it, for selfish or vicious purposes, as a 
drag-net catches all kinds of fish, bad as well as 
good (13 : 47-50). The better it is, the more it will 
attract hypocrites. But the kingdom will triumph 
and in the end the bad will suffer, as spiritual 
miseries are inflicted on them. 

It was natural that, at the end of the parables and 
their explanation, he should ask if they understood 
what he had taught, and that he should imply that, 



120 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

if they, untrained as they were, understood it, the 
trained scribes ought to understand it a great deal 
better. But they did not. A new era in his work 
will soon begin. 



THIRTEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FIRST POPULAR DEFECTION 
Matt. 14; Mark 6; Luke o : 10-17 ; John 6 

I. The Time and Place. The Scriptures, above 
referred to, tell of the feeding of the five thousand 
at the northeast corner of the Sea of Galilee, and in 
the vicinity of the little town of Bethsaida, not the 
Bethsaida of Andrew and Peter, for that was on the 
opposite side of the sea. It was on that occasion that 
the period of popularity reached its crisis and the de- 
fection began, which was finished the next day over 
in Capernaum. From that day, his activities were de- 
voted to the training of the Twelve and preparing 
them for the greatest crisis of all, only one year in 
the future. 

It seems clear that it was about the time of the 
Passover of April, a. d. 29, and perhaps six months 
after the events of our last lesson. Assuming that 
the beginning of his exclusively parabolic teaching 
was in the autumn of a. d. 28, we find such inter- 
vening events as stilling the tempest on the lake; 
healing the two Gadarene demoniacs ; journeys over 
the various parts of Galilee, with teachings and 



THIRTEENTH DAY 



healings ; sending out the Twelve, by twos, to assist 
him in his urgent work and to receive training for 
their future mission; the death of John the Baptist 
and the consequent discussion of him and Christ 
everywhere. Excitement is widespread and intense. 
The air is electric. A storm is coming. That storm 
we are now observing and studying. 

2. The Causes, (i) The Opposition of the 
Rulers is Becoming More Effective. It is a per- 
sonal war; it is a religious war, waged, as they 
believe, for themselves, the people, and their God. 
That is the way they have felt from the beginning 
and they have never had a moment's thought of re- 
laxing their efforts till they win a victory. 

As a personal war, they declared it, in their 
hearts and among themselves, that day he cleansed 
the temple at Jerusalem. He wounded their pride, 
offended their prejudices, and weakened their power, 
by interfering with their income, damaging their 
standing with the people and revealing their annoy- 
ing impotence to themselves. It was a fight for life 
and they were in it for life. 

As a religious war they declared it that same day, 
as they saw his unauthorized and aggravating 
course, in violation of the great " system " of cus- 
toms and traditions which they regarded as divine. 
They thought they were doing God's service in sup- 
pressing this pretender. They could not see how he 
could be the Messiah, or even a forerunner, as so 
many seemed to take him to be. As they saw it, 



122 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

his humble origin ; the place where he was reared ; 
the kind of company he kept, for they complained 
that he associated with " publicans and sinners " ; 
the kind of men he chose for his intimate associates, 
men without culture, and some of them men of bad 
repute, as Matthew the publican and Simon the 
Zealot; his disregard of the traditions of their rab- 
bis ; his strange, ridiculous ideas about the kingdom, 
so different from theirs ; his mysterious allusions to 
himself, implying a conceit which ranked him above 
Moses and all the other national worthies — all these 
things were fatally against him, stamping him an 
enemy to God and man. 

Moreover, he attacked them and he aggravated 
and incensed them by speaking his puzzling parables 
on their account, by sending out his illiterate and 
unlicensed followers to preach and work miracles, 
by vehemently denouncing them in terrible terms, 
even more fiercely than John did. They hated him 
religiously. 

All the leaders of all the sects united in this one 
thing — Pharisees, whose hypocrisy he exposed; 
Sadducees, whose aristocratic and conceited luxury 
was enraged at him for introducing disturbing ideas 
and taking the part of the unfortunate ; Herodians, 
who were merely politicians and resented any popu- 
lar excitement; scribes and lawyers, professional 
teachers, who hated such plebeian rivals and viewed 
with wrath the lessening of their authority and privi- 
leges. They worked together and finally got the tide 



THIRTEENTH DAY 123 

of popular feeling turned. After John's death, just 
before the day we are studying, they grew bolder and 
more hopeful. They probably expected to enlist 
Herod's help in destroying John's great friend. 
John was a popular idol, and when Herod killed him 
without raising a popular outcry, the leaders must 
have felt new confidence in being able to treat Jesus 
in the same way. They had feared the enthusiastic 
multitudes, but now they took up more hopefully the 
task of cooling their fever. Their work was having 
a cumulative power. 

(2) The Mood of the Multitudes Becoming Dan- 
gerous. It is a mingled mood — continued admira- 
tion for him, because of his remarkable works; ad- 
ditional excitement, due to the preaching of the 
Twelve; the fear and the wonder aroused by the 
death of John; disappointment with Jesus because 
he did not preach and lead a victorious kingdom and 
because they could not use him ; fear of their rulers, 
whose insidious poison was maddening all their emo- 
tions. That poison is putting fever into their blood. 
Their mood will reach a climax soon. 

3. The Events of the Day. (i) His Privacy In- 
terrupted. He sought privacy with his disciples, over 
on the northeast coast of the sea, in the quiet moun- 
tain region. They needed it. They had just come 
back from their first preaching tour, flushed with 
victory, and they needed sobering instruction and re- 
action from their nervous strain. He needed it, for he 
was wearied from constant giving out and mind and 



124 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

body demanded rest. He was pained at the superficial 
excitement of the people, and would leave them to 
themselves for a while. He knew what was coming 
and would spend awhile in communion with his 
Father and in fellowship with those who loved him 
best, before starting on the new stage of his career. 
He had heard of the death of John and his sad 
thoughts needed privacy. He knew that Herod was 
inquiring about him and might seek to treat him as 
he did John, and retirement was prudent. He knew 
that the Pharisees would take new hope from John's 
death and renew their efforts, and he would foil 
them for a short season. So they have quietly gone 
around the lake to the retired spot selected. 

But some one had seen them going, and the mul- 
titudes were soon seeking him. The throngs that 
were spending their time following him were aug- 
mented by the thousands of pilgrims on their way 
to the Passover, at Jerusalem, who were full of a 
palpitating curiosity to see Jesus, hear his words 
and, most of all, witness his miracles. Most of them 
were simply excited by the " signs which he did," 
as John says, and hoped he would at last make 
himself the national Deliverer they had dreamed of. 
So eager were they, that when he looked out from 
the slope of the hill he saw them coming in boats 
from as far as Tiberias, and many walking around 
the upper end of the sea — " five thousand men, be- 
sides women and children." His privacy was at an 
end. 



THIRTEENTH DAY 125 

(2) His Kindness Called Forth. When he saw 
them he " had compassion on them," which means 
that he felt all they felt. He saw they were as 
sheep not having a shepherd, the prey of designing 
leaders, of their own false notions about the Mes- 
siah, of their own superficial emotions. Then he en- 
tered into their state, felt their lostness, woes, way- 
wardness, weakness. His desire to rest was not so 
strong as his desire to help, and he came forth from 
his retreat. His compassion was sensitive, taking in 
their whole condition in detail ; it was sensible, min- 
istering to them in wise ways. He did three things : 
There were many sick people — he healed them ; they 
were a shepherdless flock — he taught them; they 
grew hungry — he fed them. 

(3) His Wisdom Revealed. It was wise to heal 
and teach and feed them. It was consummately 
wise, the way he did it. In feeding them he discloses 
to us five great laws of work in the kingdom, (a) 
He uses the disciples in discovering the supplies they 
had on hand, organizing the crowds into companies, 
and then serving them — the law of co-operation. 
(b~) He began with what they had — the law of con- 
tinuity, as Phillips Brooks has so happily phrased it. 
(c) He did it in systematic fashion — the law of or- 
der, (d) He gave thanks — the law of thanksgiving 
— in recognizing the source of all supplies, (e) He 
allowed nothing to be wasted — the law of parsimony, 
as the scientists would say. 



126 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

(4) Their Temper Tested. He saw that their mo- 
tives and hopes were purely temporal, fixed on 
things that are external, as ministry to the body or 
to the desire for power. Jesus not only designed to 
feed them, but to test them and distinguish the selfish 
and worldly from the genuine — those who would 
argue that, because he could give bread to the hun- 
gry, he could give liberty and power to the nation, 
from those who could see that, because he could feed 
hungry mouths, he could satisfy hungry hearts. 
Jesus had come to the time when he owed it to them 
to dash their hopes or confirm them. The occasion 
and the miracle were suited to the purpose. The test 
succeeded. They at once said : " This man can lead 
us in a revolution against Rome and restore our na- 
tion to its supremacy. He who can draw such 
throngs after him can command the loyalty of the 
people ; he who can feed us thus can keep the com- 
missary supplied. Hurrah for the king, the long- 
promised Son of David!" They had argued the 
wrong way and they tried to compel him to accept 
the office. 

(5) Their Purpose Rebuked. It was a distinct 
rebuff when he quickly sent his disciples away in a 
boat to Capernaum, " constraining," even compelling 
them to get away from the evil contagion, and he 
himself slipped out of the crowd and went up into 
the mountain alone. They probably felt it, but did 
not entirely turn against him till the next day, over 
in Capernaum. 



THIRTEENTH DAY 127 



(6) Their Motives Uncovered. It was the next 
day. He saw that he could lead them no farther in 
the truth ; that they saw in the bread a " sign " only 
of " more bread " and temporal power, instead of the 
sign of bread for the soul and spiritual power ; that 
they were hopelessly carnal as yet. He owed it to 
himself, to his true disciples and to the false, to put 
an end to the farce. And he did it. He did it by 
telling them that they needed bread for the soul, 
that he brought that bread down to them from 
heaven, that, in fact, he was that bread. 

(7) Their Discipleship Ended. They suddenly saw 
that he was not the Messiah they wanted, and turned 
against him completely, some of them joining his 
enemies in opposing him, some sinking back into the 
stolid life of the past, some to brood over it all, and 
finally believe on him. The Twelve clung to him 
with added attachment, especially when they felt the 
pathos of his disappointment with the multitudes. 
The parable of the Sower had been illustrated. The 
multitudes were the stony-ground hearers. 



IV 

PERIOD OF DECLINING 
POPULARITY 

A. In the North. B. In the South. C. The last week. 

In the North. April A. D. 29 to October A. D. 29. 

72. "Withdrawal into the North. Matt. 15 : 21 ; Mark 7 : 

24; John 7 : I. 

73. Heals Syro-Phoenician's daughter. Matt. 15 : 22-28 ; 

Mark 7 : 25-30. 

74. Returns through Decapolis. Matt. 15 : 29-31 ; Mark 

7 s 3!-37- 

75. Feeds four thousand. Matt. 15 : 32-39 ; Mark 8 : 1-9. 

76. Trouble with his enemies about a sign. Matt. 16 : 

1-12 ; Mark 8 : 10-21. 

77. Heals a blind man. Mark 8 : 22-26. 

78. Another journey North. Matt. 16 : 13 ; Mark 8 : 27. 

79. Peter's great confession. Matt. 16 : 13-20; Mark 8 : 

27-30; Luke 9 : 18-21. 

80. He foretells his death and resurrection. Matt. 16 : 

21-28 ; Mark 8 : 31 to 9 : I ; Luke 9 : 22-27. 

81. The Transfiguration. Matt. 17 : 1-13 ; Mark 9 : 2-13 ; 

Luke 9 : 28-36. 

82. The demoniac boy. Matt. 1 7 : 14-20 ; Mark 9 : 14-29 ; 

Luke 9 : 37-43. 

83. Private return to Galilee. Mark 9 : 30. 

84. He again foretells death and resurrection. Matt. 17 : 

22, 23 ; Mark 9 : 30-32 ; Luke 9 : 43-45. 

85. Pays temple tax at Capernaum. Matt. 17 : 24-27. 

86. Enjoins humility and forgiveness. Matt. 18 ; Mark 

9 : 33-50 ; Luke 9 : 46-50. 

87. Requires supreme submission to him. Matt. 8 : 19-22 ; 

Luke 9 : 57-62. 

88. Chided by his brothers. John 7 : 2-9. 

89. Goes privately to the feast. John 7 : 10 ; Luke 9 : 

Si-56. 



FOURTEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF FLIGHT INTO GENTILE TERRITORY 
Matt, ij : 1-28 ; Mark 7 : 1-30 

1, Lost Popularity. The bubble of popular en- 
thusiasm had burst. To Jesus it must have been 
both a relief and a sorrow — relief, that the people 
were disillusioned, that the apostles had borne the 
strain so well, and that he could now devote himself 
to more substantial work; sorrow, that evil seemed 
on the increase and souls were being led astray. He 
must have felt lonely. Even before this, as Mathe- 
son says, " He felt alone amid the crowd, because 
the ideal of the crowd was miles distant from his 
ideal. There is no loneliness like the separation in 
sympathy — the solitude of the soul." He had been 
feeling this, and now it is like starting life anew. 

2. The New Inventory. Of the thousands who 
followed him many miles and proclaimed their devo- 
tion every day, twelve are all he can now call his 
own. That is what eighteen months of the most 
promising work yield him. And even one of the 
Twelve is a traitor already, and Jesus knew it; 
he had frankly told them, without identifying the 
man, that one of them had a devil's spirit in him. 
This he did, in order to stimulate each one to whole- 
some self-examination and self-distrust and in order 

131 



132 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

to awaken the guilty one to repentance. The strange 
character and career of Judas will come up for study 
in a later lesson, and we can only stop now to note 
that Jesus knew him, but treated him as a true 
disciple. 

These Twelve do not quite complete the inventory, 
for in many homes in Judea and Galilee his name 
was a household word and he was cherished as a 
benefactor whom no tongue of malice could dis- 
credit, and among those thoughtless thousands who 
turned away from him at Capernaum were many 
who would, in days to come, remember him and find 
him their Lord and Saviour. He knew that, and his 
hope fed on the prospect. But now there are only 
the Twelve with him as he starts on another stage 
of work. 

3. The New Task. We have taken notice of the 
three processes, going on steadily through all the 
Galilean ministry — his increasing revelation of him- 
self, the increasing opposition of his enemies, and the 
completer training of the apostles. From this time 
on his most important and profitable work will lie 
in training the Twelve. He will devote his time 
chiefly to that, and only incidentally to the old work 
of teaching, preaching, and working miracles. He 
must train them as fast as possible. 

They need his special, undivided care just now. 
The world is in confusion, their brains are in a whirl, 
and he alone seems entirely trustworthy to them. 
Their views about his kingdom and the Jewish nation 



FOURTEENTH DAY 133 

are scarcely less crude, or more spiritual, than those 
of the multitude, yet they trust him as those do not. 
The break between Jesus and the multitude dis- 
tressed and disappointed them, but still they knew he 
could be trusted. The death of John the Baptist 
must have tested them severely. They knew Jesus 
loved and respected John and felt indebted to the 
eagle-spirited forerunner, and they could not well 
understand how he could neglect him and leave him 
in prison to suffer a brutal martyrdom because he did 
his duty bravely. Still they knew that there were 
some deep reasons for his conduct and that he could 
be implicitly trusted. They were simple-hearted and 
single-hearted ; they had no other one to go to ; they 
knew that he had power to bestow life on them. 
Their confession of their faith in him — " to whom 
else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal 
life " — must have cheered him greatly. They had 
been faithful in severe tests that left them with noth- 
ing but their confidence in him, and they needed 
the strength that would come from his undivided 
attention to them. They clung to his matchless per- 
sonality and now must be brought further under its 
spell. They are ignorant and need teaching. They 
must get more knowledge of him, his kingdom, his 
plans, his Father. He holds them and must meet 
their growing demands. His personal teaching, his 
further works of power, his incomparable skill in 
exposing error and malice, will all bind them closer 
to him. 



134 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

4. The New Territory. From this time he 
avoids familiar scenes and goes as much as possible 
into strange places, usually among the Gentiles. We 
perceive three reasons for that. The opposition of 
the rulers is growing more bold and confident, since 
they succeeded in turning away the masses from 
him. Herod seems to have designs against him, and 
prudence requires withdrawal into territory that 
will at least be neutral. The disciples need a care 
which he cannot give them, amid such distractions 
and dangers as he would now find anywhere in 
Galilee. He withdraws into Gentile territory, and 
for the next few months will be moving about, occa- 
sionally touching Jewish lands, but only quickly, and 
usually to be received with coldness and hostility. 

5. The New Attack. It appears to have been 
after the time of the collapse of the popular enthu- 
siasm and before his withdrawal from Galilee. It 
was made by emissaries from Jerusalem, who took 
advantage of the situation to drive their old charge 
home with new force and fury — the same old charge 
that had been made again and again, that he despised 
the traditions of the rabbis. Only one specification 
was given, eating without washing the hands. It 
was not a question of cleanliness that was raised, 
but of ceremonial. His reply was that their tradi- 
tions led them to violate the law of God, had made 
them hypocritical and formal rather than real and 
hearty, had led them to violate law by mere trick of 
words. Then he uttered the principle that the state 



FOURTEENTH DAY 135 

of the heart is the all-important matter. They had 
often brought two other specific charges, about fast- 
ing and the Sabbath. He taught that there was no 
good in fasting except as it enabled one to fix his 
thoughts in self-abasement on God, rather than upon 
his fellow-men, whose admiration he might win by 
his seeming goodness. He did works of mercy on 
the Sabbath, and when they complained he taught 
that he was not violating the law of Moses, though 
he might be violating their petty regulations; that 
even if he were, he was Lord of the Sabbath Day 
and could use it in the interest of man, in any way 
he saw fit. That enraged them more. To this new 
attack he replies, making the heart the seat of the 
motives, and thus he sets free all who are bound 
by senseless ceremony. It is indeed proclaiming 
liberty to the captive. 

6. The New Touch with Humanity. It is up 
in the Gentile lands of Tyre and Sidon, along the 
prosperous seashore. It was the first time he was 
ever outside of the general Jewish territory, so far 
as we know. It has been conjectured that he had 
gone into the distant East, in his growing youth, to 
study their system of faith and philosophy, but it is 
only a conjecture, with very little in its favor. He 
had seen foreigners passing through Palestine, but 
now he is among foreign people and institutions and 
customs, though they spoke a language similar to his 
own, and, along the borders, must have spoken in 
his own tongue. 



I36 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

They had different ideals, mostly those of pleasure 
and self-gratification, yet they showed a quick appre- 
ciation of his worth, untrammeled by cruel forms. 
It gave him pleasure and it gave him hope for the 
salvation of mankind. The Gentiles offered a far 
more encouraging field for the gospel than the Jews, 
and the question arises, Why did he not devote him- 
self to them entirely from this time? His gospel 
was for them, but his personal mission was to the 
Jews, and the gospel must reach them through the 
Jews. Loyalty to his Father's will keeps him with 
the latter. Besides, to change now would be inter- 
preted to mean resentment against his own people. 
As Dawson says, " The more bitterly the Pharisees 
were opposed to him, the more necessary did it seem 
to affirm his claims in Jerusalem, which was the 
very citadel of Pharisaism." It was a valuable ex- 
perience to him, and he seemed after that to find 
special pleasure in thinking of the Gentiles. 

7. The New Recruit. It was a woman, and she 
was a Syro-Phoenician, a mixture of Syrian, Phoeni- 
cian, and Canaanite bloods. She evidently became a 
personal follower, because she had the faith of the 
faithful when she asked him to cure her daughter, 
possessed of a devil. Jesus was not up there to work, 
only to rest and teach his disciples. His personal 
mission was not to the Gentiles, but to the Jews. To 
change his mission would be disloyalty to his Father 
and his plan. Miracles were an inseparable part of 
his mission. To work a miracle up among the Gen- 



FOURTEENTH DAY 137 

tiles is to open his mission among them, and that he 
cannot do. He cannot do it, unless she shows a 
faith like that which Abraham had, which would 
constitute her a Jew in the real, though not in the 
outward, sense. He is so anxious to bless her, that 
he seeks, by a very severe, and seemingly unkind, 
method, to develop her faith so as to be able to clas- 
sify her as a spiritual Jew. He succeeds. Her faith 
rises to the sublime. It is a lowly faith, as she is 
willing to be called a dog as compared with the 
Jews. It is intelligent, for it constructs a resistless 
argument, thus : " If I am a little house-dog, then 
you must give me a blessing, for two reasons : those 
little dogs are always fed with crumbs from the 
table ; the master owns them and therefore ought to 
take care of them." It is mighty and prevails. It 
wins his praise. Here is a new recruit, who will 
never forget him, a type of many more yet to be 
won. 

8. The New Teaching. The effect of his experi- 
ences in Gentile territory will be seen in his bearing 
and his teaching. Here we get glimpses of the truth, 
afterward expanded by Paul, that he is not the true 
Jew who is simply one in blood and ceremonial, but 
in his spirit, whether he has Jewish blood in his veins 
or not. He brings away a fine appreciation of the 
Gentile spirit. He will often have them in mind, and 
will say, " If the mighty works that have been done 
in Capernaum had been done in Tyre and Sidon, 
they would have repented long ago." In some of his 



I38 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

parables of judgment upon the Jews, he will allude 
hopefully to the Gentiles. He thinks of their ca- 
pacity for salvation, and in his preaching he will set 
forth the large love of God for mankind, as such. 
The journey has benefited both him and the dis- 
ciples. 



FIFTEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FORETASTE OF GLORY 
Matt. 16 : 13 to 17 : 20 ; Mark 8 : 10 to 9 : 2g ; Luke g : 18-43 

i. The Time and Place. It was probably in the 
early autumn of a. d. 29, not long before the feast 
of Tabernacles, which occurred that year October 
11, as nearly as we can estimate it. This was his 
second and last journey to the north of Jewish ter- 
ritory. He went away, not to work miracles nor to 
teach the people, but to have a quiet time, instructing 
his disciples and enjoying their grateful company. 

Twenty-five miles north of the Sea of Galilee he 
led them, till they were under the shadow of Mt. 
Hermon, the only snow-clad summit near Palestine. 
There they entered a new civilization, Roman in- 
stead of Hebrew. The city of Caesarea Philippi, re- 
built by Philip the tetrarch, and named for himself 
and Caesar Augustus, lay at the foot of the mountain, 
reaching, by splendid villas, far up the terraced side 
and crowned by a splendid castle on the heights. 
Nature worship was provided for, in a famous 



FIFTEENTH DAY 1 39 



grotto, dedicated to the god Pan, and in a white 
marble temple erected in honor of Augustus Caesar. 
Picturesque beauty, kindly quiet, and encouraging 
safety awaited them in that region. 

There, on the summit of the mountain, a most 
marvelous experience was given to him and three 
of his apostles, an experience whose full meaning 
could be understood only by them. And yet it has 
been written down for our instruction. It was vitally 
related to the experiences through which he and they 
had been passing for months, and especially since 
they started on this northward journey. In fact, in 
the words of another, it was " the final sequence in 
a chain of causes." 

2. The Nature of His Experience. The glory 
of Jesus was his character, which had been growing, 
without blemish, into its perfections. That glory 
was partially visible to all who had eyes to see. As 
John said, " And we beheld his glory, glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." 
Men who heard or saw him felt that there was a 
beauty and a splendor in him entirely unusual, and 
they paid him the tribute of ardent admiration or 
extreme dislike. But that glory of his inner char- 
acter could not have the satisfaction of a perfect ex- 
pression of itself, owing to two obscuring limitations 
— that of the body and that of the environment. 
Had he possessed a body capable of raying forth all 
the splendors within him, and had he lived in an 
environment with glories corresponding to his own, 



140 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

then such experiences would have been normal and 
common. 

On Mt. Hermon, God made it possible for the 
glory, pent up within him, to stream forth, in its 
appropriate purity and beauty. He did it by remov- 
ing those two limitations, by giving the inner spirit 
power to shine through the body and by constructing 
for Jesus a temporary environment of glory that 
would meet and match the glory shining out from 
his person. It was moral light from within, break- 
ing into physical manifestation on his body, as the 
invisible electricity breaks into view on the carbon 
point. God let down a bit of heaven, as an en- 
vironment for Jesus : the light itself, the heavenly 
visitors, God himself, whose presence was indicated 
in the symbolic cloud and in the reassuring voice. It 
was done when this bit of heaven could be substi- 
tuted for the earthly environment most completely — 
at night, when earthly objects are shut from the 
gaze ; on the mountain, where all sounds are silenced 
and the rare and lofty air brings elation to the spirit ; 
in the presence of the few who would be most nearly 
in sympathy with the scene. This was the experi- 
ence he was allowed to have, at the moment when he 
needed it, and the disciples needed to witness it. 

3. The Need of It. ( 1 ) He Needed It. He had 
been having depressing experiences, till two heavy 
thoughts filled his mind, one about himself, one 
about his disciples. His treatment by the people was 
severe, for they had been adding insult to injury. 



FIFTEENTH DAY I4I 



After the journey into the regions of Tyre and 
Sidon, he swung back and touched Galilee again, 
only to find coldness and to hasten away on this 
trip. That wounded him. On his way, while still 
in Jewish territory, and, prompted by sympathy, he 
healed a blind man, and that brought on a fierce as- 
sault from the Pharisees, who demanded that he 
show his credentials and give some " sign " that 
he was authorized to do such things. They were 
unusually bold and, in their confidence, he saw that 
they had popular reenforcement. It wounded him 
to see that and to have to rebuke them in such a stern 
way as he did. He learned also that the people who 
once thought of him as a Messiah and king were 
now thinking of him only as a prophet, some one of 
the old prophets come to life. That also wounded 
him. He had depressing memories. 

Such depressing anticipations too! He has been 
rejected in Galilee; he will be rejected in Jerusalem, 
at the next Passover. He has been cast out ; he 
will be killed. He could not think of the past 
or the present, of himself, of the disciples or of the 
people, without thinking of the tragedy com- 
ing on. He has known it, but now it is so near, 
so awful, he cannot help thinking of it every mo- 
ment. The very idea is crushing, that the people, 
whom God organized into a nation, taught, trained, 
and protected, for the one purpose of welcoming 
him, had not only rejected him, through their offi- 
cers and religious leaders, but had deliberately de- 



142 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

cided, and planned, to kill him ! He is truly becom- 
ing the " man of sorrows." His face takes on the 
lines of his care and the disciples themselves must 
have felt the gloom of his spirit, even before he told 
them he was to die. 

The other depressing thought was about his dis- 
ciples. They had been growing as they saw his 
works, yielded to the influence of his personal char- 
acter, and received his constant and gracious instruc- 
tions. But their very growth brought him new 
anxiety, for it meant that he must now tell them the 
secret he had been anxious to share with them for a 
long time, but had only now found them ready to 
receive. Their very confidence in him gave him 
deep concern, for it was the only bond that bound 
them to him — their notions being almost as crude 
and wrong as the notions of the populace. Only one 
thing was clear to them — that he was to be trusted. 
He tries to enlighten them, but after they have made 
the wonderful confession they are still shockingly 
ignorant. Because they have made some growth 
and because he is endeavoring to get them ready for 
the trying future, they are now to have a new ex- 
perience, and enter on a new stage in their growth. 
That adds to his anxiety. 

The new work he is doing for them is depressing. 
It is breaking sad news to them about his death; 
imposing on them the new law of self-sacrifice and 
cross-bearing; charging them with the new mission 
of making known the conditions of salvation to men. 



FIFTEENTH DAY 1 43 



The great confession that Peter made for them all, 
just six days before the Transfiguration, was grate- 
ful to him, but it was the signal that he must tell 
them all these sad, disappointing things. 

Those six days were probably spent in talking 
with them about the necessary connection between 
his death and his work as Messiah. They cannot 
understand it and that adds to his gloom. He saw 
great possibilities, but also great weaknesses and 
inconsistencies, in them. Though Peter was rock, 
he was like sand; though the Father in heaven was 
speaking in his confession, Satan's voice was in his 
rebuke of his Master. And all were weak. Though 
they confessed him as the Messiah, he knew they 
saw in him a wrong sort of Messiah and forbade 
their speaking of him, till they could speak more 
accurately. Yes, Jesus needed that experience. 

(2) They Needed to Witness the Transfiguration. 
They were at a crisis and were in peril. There was 
the crisis that comes from new insight and knowl- 
edge. Jesus asked them what the people in general 
and what they themselves, thought of him, partly be- 
cause he wanted their sympathy, but chiefly because 
he wanted them to crystallize their own convictions 
by expressing them. Their reply brought him three 
items of information — that the people were not now 
considering him a king, but an old prophet risen 
from the dead; that his many-sidedness was re- 
flected in the popular estimates of him, for his re- 
bukes reminded them of Elijah and John, his tender- 



144 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

ness suggested Jeremiah, while his pictorial method 
reminded them of Daniel and Ezekiel, thus showing 
that he comprehended them all in his person; that 
the apostles had risen to a new conception of him, 
though not the highest. They said he was not only 
a prophet but the Christ, God's son. But still they 
had never imagined that he must be rejected. What 
Peter said was substantially what Philip said to 
Nathanael, and what Peter had confessed, when the 
multitudes left Jesus at Capernaum, but there was a 
fuller and a truer content in the statement now. 

The crisis that came from new honors. He lov- 
ingly told them their convictions came from God 
and that, because he embodied such faith and con- 
fidence, Peter, whose character was crystallizing 
into rock, should be the first stone to be laid in the 
spiritual structure which he now for the first time 
mentions, his church. Peter afterwards speaks of 
the temple made of living stones, into which we are 
all built, but he was the first stone. Christ builds 
with persons and he put the right persons into the 
foundation. 

The crisis of new responsibilities. Their rabbis 
held the keys, the power to prohibit and permit. The 
apostles, through Peter, were given the power to 
make known the conditions of entrance into the 
kingdom, with the assurance that the faithful dis- 
charge of that duty would receive heaven's ap- 
proval. 

The crisis that comes from shocking truths. By 



FIFTEENTH DAY I45 



his acts, he had contradicted all their ideas, and yet 
they clung to him. When he tells them that suffer- 
ing, persecution, and death are not only inevitable, 
but necessary to his success, it almost kills them. 
Two things saved them — their devotion to him and 
his assurance that it would not be all — that some- 
thing else will follow. He had not dared say this 
sooner. He dreads to say it now. But he must. 
Peter's rebuke was impudent. It was the echo of 
the voice of the tempter, in the wilderness, who 
sought to ruin him by offering him the allegiance 
of the world, without winning it by sacrifice and the 
cross. 

The crisis from new hardships. He not only dis- 
closed the cross awaiting him, but a cross for them 
as well. They had thought he would give his fol- 
lowers ease and luxury, but he says they must deny 
themselves what is wrong, give themselves to what 
is right, at any cost, even to the point of self-sacrifice 
and courageously follow him everywhere and al- 
ways. It is not only to give up sin for Christ, but 
give up self to Christ. 

4. The Significance of the Transfiguration. 
( 1 ) To Him. The presence of Moses and Elijah as- 
sured him that, though the rulers rejected him, he 
was carrying out the ideals and finishing the work 
of the men who most truly built the nation, the law- 
giver and the prophet ; that he was thus received by 
the true Israel, though rejected by the false ; that his 
death was approved by the law and the prophets as 



I46 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

the means of reigning over them ; that heaven, from 
which they came, understood, and sympathized with, 
the mystery of his sufferings. This cheered him. 

The presence of his Father, as shown by the cloud 
and the voice, expressed God's love and approval, 
as on two other critical occasions God spoke in an 
audible voice. The voice gave him authority and 
expressed Fatherly love. This composed his troubled 
soul. 

The glory itself meant to Jesus that whatever 
might happen to him, truth and righteousness and 
love were embodied within him, and that that of 
which this was only a foretaste belonged to him. 
He had known that glory in the past ; he is to know 
it again. 

(2) To the Disciples. They saw that his char- 
acter, and not his circumstances, constituted his true 
majesty ; that his authority was supreme, since it was 
affirmed by the voice of God ; that there was a pur- 
pose in his death, and it was an achievement rather 
than a fatality, since that was the sole theme of the 
conversation between him and the heavenly visitors ; 
that all such joyous experiences equip them to min- 
ister to others, for there were troubled people at the 
foot of the mountain, awaiting their sympathetic and 
heavenly help. 



IV 

PERIOD OF DECLINING 
POPULARITY 

Continued 
B. In the South. October A. D. 29 to March 31, A. D. 30. 

90. At the feast of Tabernacles. John 7 : 11-52. 

91. Claims to be the Light of the world. John 8 : 12-20. 

92. His relation to God. John 8 : 21-30. 

93. Teachings on true freedom. John 8 : 31-59. 

94. The blind man healed. John 9 : I— 41. 

95. Discourse about the Good Shepherd. John 10 : 1-2 1. 

96. The Seventy sent forth. Luke 10 : 1-24. 

97. The Good Samaritan. Luke 10 : 25-37. 

98. In the home of Mary and Martha. Luke 10 : 38-42. 

99. Teachings about prayer. Luke II : 1-13. 

100. The blasphemous accusation. Luke 11 : 14-36. 

101. At breakfast with a Pharisee. Luke II : 37-54. 

102. Warnings and instructions. Luke 12. 

103. The necessity of repentance. Luke 13 : 1-9. 

104. The woman healed on the Sabbath. Luke 13 : IO-2I. 

105. Asked whether few are saved. Luke 13 : 22-30. 

106. Warned against Herod. Luke 13 : 31-34. 

107. At the feast of Dedication. John 10 : 22-42. 

108. At a chief Pharisee's table. Luke 14 : 1-24. 

109. Discourse on Counting the Cost. Luke 14 : 25-35. 
no. Three parables about lost things. Luke 15. 

111. Two parables about wealth. Luke 16. 

112. Forgiveness and faith. Luke 17 : I-IO. 

1 13. The raising of Lazarus. John 1 1 : 1-46. 

114. The Sanhedrin plot his death. John II : 47-53. 

115. He withdraws to Ephraim. John II : 54. 

116. He heals ten lepers. Luke 17 : n-19. 

117. The coming Messianic reign. Luke 17 : 20-37. 



1 1 8. The importunate widow. Luke 18 : 1-8. 

119. The Pharisee and Publican. Luke 18 : 9-14. 

120. Teaching concerning divorce. Matt. 19 : 1-12 ; Mark 

10 : I-I2. 

121. Blessing little children. Matt. 19 : 13— 15 ; Mark 10 : 

13-16; Luke 18 : 15-17. 

122. Rich young ruler and riches. Matt. 19 : 16 to 20 : 

16 ; Mark 10 : 17-3 1 ; Luke 18 : 18-30. 

123. He foretells his crucifixion. Matt. 20 : 17-19 ; Mark 

10:32-34; Luke 18: 31-34. 

124. Ambition of James and John. Matt. 20 : 20-28; 

Mark 10 : 35-45. 

125. Two blind men near Jericho. Matt. 20 : 29-34; 

Mark 10 : 46-52 ; Luke 18 : 35-43. 

126. He visits Zaccheus. Luke 19 : 1-10. 

127. Parable of the Pounds. Luke 19 : 11-27. 

128. He reaches Jerusalem, Friday, March 3 1, A. D. 30. 

Luke 19 : 28 ; John II : 55 to 12 : I. 



SIXTEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE FIRST OFFICIAL ATTEMPT ON HIS 

LIFE 

Luke 9 : 51-36; John 7 : 10-36 

It was in Jerusalem, at the feast of Tabernacles, 
October, a. d. 29. That was the annual thanksgiving 
festival, when the people lived in tabernacles or tents 
for seven days, in memory of the hardships of their 
tent life in the wilderness and in grateful recogni- 
tion of the completion of their harvest. It was not 
long after the Transfiguration, and we must glance 
backward to see the meaning of the intermediate 
events as they are reflected in him. The Transfig- 
uration may be taken as " the sublime preface to the 
closing scenes," the preparation for six months more 
of varied and costly work. 

1. His New Crisis. After returning from Cses- 
area Philippi, he was to find no place ready to re- 
ceive him; in fact, there was no place that would 
not be apt to reject him. Jerusalem led in rejecting 
him the first year of his ministry and was ready to 
repeat the rejection; Nazareth followed, in brutal 
fashion ; then in a district on the seashore, the whole 
population besought him to leave; now all Galilee 
was indifferent or scornful toward him, especially 
Capernaum and Bethsaida; even Samaria had been 

149 



150 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

infected with the virus of hostility. At first, the 
officials alone opposed him ; now the populace, whom 
he used to fall back on, are no more with him; 
Herod too, after his success in suppressing John, 
plans to make way with John's friend. His very own 
disciples have, as yet, failed to enter into his inner 
fellowship. 

The mood of the people was not neutral, as a 
rule. The Pharisees had been industrious in sowing 
the seeds of hate during his absence. In the esti- 
mation of the people he had failed as a leader, and 
their disappointment was severe. Whether from 
lack of decision or judgment, or of unscrupulous 
daring, he had failed, as they saw it. Reversed love 
is the fiercest hatred, and a disappointed friend often 
becomes a cruel enemy. Into such an environment 
Jesus came when he turned southward from 
Caesarea Philippi. He has had the thought of a 
violent death with him constantly, but now he has 
the acute and painful experience of being in a deadly 
environment wherever he goes. The waters are 
mined with deadly explosives not only about Jeru- 
salem, but everywhere; his words and actions are 
watched and reported to the officials. Death lurks 
in every path. How will he bear himself ? For this 
is the severest test he can endure. 

2. His New Exaltation. He entered that en- 
vironment with a new exaltation. That is the way 
he met his crisis and triumphed. His purpose to 
make his death " an achievement," rather than a 



SIXTEENTH DAY 151 



submission to fate, became more clear, unwavering, 
and commanding, if possible. His confidence in 
himself and his purpose was unshakable. Never 
once did he waver. No hatred, save for the wrong 
they did themselves, ever showed in his words or 
action or looks. The joy of self-sacrifice came to his 
aid. That joy arose from the very act of self-giving 
to a stainless cause, and was all the higher for the 
sufferings involved; it came also from the sense of 
success he felt in advance, for by his death he will 
win thousands of these very people who are opposing 
him, and will purify their hearts of the very sins they 
are now manifesting. He is absolutely protected 
from fear. 

After the Transfiguration he is not as he was. 
He never lost the glow of that experience. He 
seemed often to speak as from the higher world of 
which he tasted, that night. The glory lingered on 
his face and form, so that the disciples were some- 
times amazed, and as they followed him they were 
" afraid." That exalted mood was his strength and 
protection, for it was victory in defeat and triumph 
in death. 

3. His New Preaching. The two things — his 
exalted state of mind and the changed attitude of the 
people — necessarily affected all his utterances. What 
he said took on the majestic quality of his mood, 
and it dealt with the sins that were exhibited. He 
was sterner, more minute in denouncing sin, yet he 
was tenderness itself in dealing with earnest and 



152 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

honest people. At the foot of the mountain he 
healed the demoniac boy with the gentleness of a 
mother, yet rebuked his disciples with unusual 
severity as a " faithless and perverse generation." 

His work seems now to consist of denouncing sin 
and telling the disciples of his death. When a con- 
tention arose as to who should be greatest, he used 
a child as an object-lesson of dependence on its 
parents and docility and faith, and told them they 
could only enter his kingdom by corresponding feel- 
ings toward him, by a single-hearted devotion to his 
Father in heaven, by having a loving, forgiving 
spirit toward each other and by leaving all to follow 
him. Thus, also, his demands upon his followers 
became more rigid, his teachings even more volu- 
minous than in former periods. More than one-half 
of the Gospels is occupied with the last six months of 
his ministry, which begins with this feast of Taber- 
nacles, and all of it is stamped with the Transfigura- 
tion quality. 

4. His New Sorrow. It was an old sorrow, 
grown more acute. His own brothers have never 
accepted him as the Messiah, and now they break in 
with advice that wounds him. They had a tender 
interest in him, and in the days of his popularity, 
almost believed, we fancy. But when the crowds 
began to carp, they relapsed into a critical mood. 
They probably were in the habit of nagging him, so 
it seems to me. They were irritated that he had not 
properly avowed his Messiahship at Jerusalem. 



SIXTEENTH DAY I 53 



Their privileged relationship gave them opportunity 
to be disagreeable and irreverent. Perhaps they 
tried to taunt him into abandonment of his claims 
altogether. 

This must have given him exquisite pain. Their 
mistake he kindly points out, by assuring them that 
he had a personal plan to carry out and a task to 
perform; that it will mature at the right time; that 
they themselves are not so committed to any 
specific plan in life and can therefore go to the 
feast any time; that he has the problem of the 
world's sin to solve. His brothers remained unbe- 
lievers till after his resurrection. One of them be- 
came the great leader James, another was Jude, 
writer of an Epistle, and Christ's sorrow was at last 
turned into joy. 

5. His New Effort for Jerusalem. The sacred 
city has a resistless fascination for him. He will 
make several visits there during the next six months, 
and will labor in its vicinity as much as safety will 
permit. There the heart of the nation is beating 
and there his heart turns with longing love. In these 
last efforts to win his people he will need to display 
the qualities of wisdom, frankness, and courage in a 
high degree. 

He goes up privately, because his presence among 
the many pilgrims will excite them and produce an 
uproar when they reach the city. He goes later than 
these pilgrims, arriving about the middle of the 
feast, because by that time the officials will conclude 



154 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

he is not coming and will be taken off their guard. 
He is the talk of the nation. All are wondering if 
he will come to the feast, and the rulers are almost 
hysterical about it, through sleepless, jealous hatred 
and secret plotting to get rid of him. By the middle 
of the feast, they have given him up. Then he sud- 
denly appears in the temple enclosure. He at once 
gains the ear of the people and has an opportunity to 
make his own impression on them, partially free 
from the insidious spies and disturbers. 

6. His New Disclosures of Himself. Since his 
former visit to Jerusalem he has gotten to speaking 
of his Messiahship, and now he comes out with 
claims for himself which, if true, would without 
doubt constitute him the Messiah. It has been, per- 
haps, a year and a half since he was in Jerusalem, 
and even then he spoke with unusual frankness about 
himself, perhaps because he was driven to it by the 
fierce opposition. Now he claims much. 

(i) As to His Teachings (7 : 11-24). He gets 
his teachings from God, and they can prove it by 
doing the will of God, for that is a means of know- 
ing the truth. They have not done God's will, for 
when he was there once before they tried to kill him 
for healing a man (chap. 5) on the Sabbath Day. 
That healing was not more of a violation of God's 
law than circumcising a child on the Sabbath Day — 
not so much. They thought he sinned in healing 
the man ; they now think he is crazy, possessed of a 
demon, for saying they sought to kill him. 



SIXTEENTH DAY I 55 



(2) As to His Origin (25-30). They quoted an 
old saying that the Christ should come suddenly and 
from an unknown source. He taught them that they 
knew enough to know more. They knew him, and 
their godlessness alone blinded their eyes to his 
heavenly origin. Blind and wilful ignorance was 
charged on them, till, in rage, they wanted to arrest 
him, but could not. The unseen hand of God held 
them back till his time had come. The overpower- 
ing effect of his personality disarmed them. 

(3) As to His Destiny (31-36). His destiny is to 
return to Him who sent him. It will be a voluntary 
return, not compulsory ; it will be an untraceable re- 
turn, for they are morally disqualified from finding 
God's home. Their anger was none the less for sup- 
posing he spoke of seeking other fields of labor, and 
it was all the greater because many believed on him. 
They sent the temple police to arrest him. That was 
the first actual official attempt to put him out of the 
way, though they had been planning it a long time. 

(4) As to His Necessity — Water (37-52). It was 
now the last day of the feast. He had probably 
spent the intervening days with his friends in 
Bethany. This morning, as the priest brought the 
golden vessel full of water from the fountain of 
Siloam, followed by a joyous procession, and poured 
it on the altar as a libation, amid the shouts of the 
people, the music of instruments, and the songs of the 
priests, intoning the psalms, the voice of Jesus fol- 
lowed the pause, announcing that he was the source 



I $6 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

of supplies for thirsty souls, accessible and hospi- 
table, permanent, satisfying and overflowing to 
others. The officers sent to arrest him were so im- 
pressed by what he said and the way he said it that 
they could not lift their hands against him. 

(5) As to His Necessity — Light (8 : 12-59). I* 
was in the presence of the golden candelabra he 
said, " I am the light of the world." In the con- 
troversy that followed he told them they would know 
him as God's Son when they had lifted him up ; that 
they must obey him in order to be his disciples ; that 
they sought to do him violence because they had not 
the truth in them and were of their father, the devil ; 
that he could confer deathless life on them ; that he 
had an existence before his earthly existence. He 
was light to the blind man, whom the officials ex- 
communicated for acknowledging Jesus. 

(6) As to His Relationship to His People — Shep- 
herd (10 :i-4). He contrasts himself with their 
shepherds, the officials. He was real; they, pre- 
tended. He fed them; they fleeced them. He pro- 
tected them; they distracted them. He gave them 
liberty; they enslaved them. He gave them com- 
panions ; they bereaved them. He laid down his life 
for them ; they gave them over to the wolf. He was 
the owner; they, only hirelings. He loved them; 
they loved what they brought. He lived for them ; 
they lived on them. 

The effect of his preaching is varied. He soon 
leaves the city for short trips into outlying districts. 



SEVENTEENTH DAY I 57 



SEVENTEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF MISSIONARY INITIATIVE 

Matt, g : 35 to u : 30 ; 28 : 16-20 ; Mark 6 : 7-13 ; 
16 : 15-18 ; Luke g : 1-6; 10 : 1-24 

At that feast of Tabernacles he gave out new 
truths, won new admiration and awakened new 
opposition. With consummate wisdom, courage, 
and frankness, he taught, and retired unscathed to 
make a brief journey into Galilee and then find the 
most promising territory for the remaining few 
months of his life. He has now left Galilee en- 
tirely. 

1. He Finds Untilled Fields. The strip of 
territory along the east side of the Jordan, called 
Perea, " the beyond," was populous with Jews, and 
he had done very little work there. For that reason 
and because contact with foreigners had made 
them broader-minded, Jesus will give much of his 
time to them. Most of Judea had been left un- 
touched by him since he went north to enter on his 
Galilean ministry, nearly two years ago, and some 
work may be done there, now. So, as we shall find, 
his time will be spent in little journeys through 
these places, with an occasional visit to Jerusalem 
and Bethany, teaching, preaching, working mira- 
cles of mercy, and, above all, training his disciples. 
The popularity of the old " Galilean period " seems 
to return, for crowds follow him and work accumu- 



I58 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

lates on his hands. His former labors have not 
been wholly fruitless, for we find seventy disciples 
devoting their time to following him about, no 
doubt the most valuable of the " hundred and 
twenty " who gathered together after his ascension 
and of the "above five hundred" whom he saw at one 
time in Galilee after his resurrection, when he gave 
them the great missionary Commission. The new 
success and the enlarging prospects are gratifying. 

2. He Finds New Helpers. He had used the 
Twelve this way some months before, sending them 
out, two by two, as we learn in Matthew 10, and 
had probably done it since. Now it is best for him 
and them that they keep close together, and for the 
first time he uses what we may call the laymen, 
selecting from all his followers the seventy most 
suited for that mission. Their duties were much 
like the duties of the Twelve on their mission; the 
conditions similar ; the instructions about the same ; 
the results, very much the same ; the design, identi- 
cal — to multiply himself for the growing work and 
prepare skilled men to evangelize the world after he 
leaves them. 

3. He Discloses His Dearest Thought. They 
did not catch that thought, but we do. It was his 
passion, not for Jewish humanity alone, but for 
humanity as such, in whatever race or condition. 
We have seen that feeling manifesting itself of late. 
His life was a mission to humanity and the Jewish 
nation was the prepared starting-point. It was the 



SEVENTEENTH DAY 159 

strategic base of operations. He cannot yet open 
his mission to the Gentiles, though his desire to do 
so shows in his instructions — in the spirit of it all 
and in his several references to Tyre and Sidon. 
The next time he instructs them in the " Great Com- 
mission," just before his departure, he will express 
his passion and his purpose perfectly. 

Compare the three commissions — to the Twelve, 
to the seventy, to all — and note the progress in the 
expression of his feeling. The first missionaries 
were only twelve; were officials — apostles; were 
limited in territory and auditors — Jewish. They 
were too Jewish in their prejudices and in their 
conceptions of Christ to preach to Gentiles, and, 
besides, preaching to Gentiles just then would im- 
peril all future work for Jews. The second group 
was seventy; they were laymen; were allowed a 
larger audience, for they might incidentally, it is 
supposed, preach to any Gentile along the way. This 
was an advance. The third group comprised all — 
" above five hundred brethren," disciples as such — 
apostles and laymen ; they were to go into " all the 
world " to " every creature." In sending out the 
seventy he is expanding the method adopted with the 
Twelve, and is anticipating the plans of the future. 
In the final commission there are five " alls " — " all " 
the disciples to go ; go into " all " the world ; preach 
the gospel to " all " people ; have the " all power " to 
support them ; enjoy his presence " all the days." 
Christianity is missionary or it is nothing. When it 



l60 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

ceases to do aggressive evangelism, it ceases to live. 
When the disciple of Christ loses the ardor of con- 
quest for Christ, the passion for souls, he is a 
travesty on discipleship. The disciple gives proof 
of his value by the trophies he wins. 

4. He Hints at the Source of His Devotion. 
It originates in his relation to the Father. As the 
Son and the Word, Representative and Revealer, 
he loves man as such. All things were made by 
him ; as John tells us, he has the desire of the Creator 
to care for the creature. Because his ownership has 
never been relinquished, he is anxious to protect his 
property. Because he has become man, what is in 
man appeals to him. Because he is Son of Man, a 
perfect man, he is in sympathy with all men. Be- 
cause he is Saviour he has the chastened love of 
the universal and vicarious Sufferer. Because, 
though advanced in degeneration, men are capable 
of regeneration, his hope for them is cheered. 

5. He Instructs Them in the Fundamental 
Principles of Mission Work. Though their 
work was local and temporary, they were being 
fitted for permanent service, in the sublime task of 
the conquest of the world, and the deep principles 
on which they were working were to be operative for 
all time. Note them. 

(1) All the Disciples are Charged with the Duty 
of Getting the Gospel to the Needy, Laymen as well 
as Officials. The Twelve were chosen with refer- 
ence to the twelve tribes of Israel, and possibly the 



SEVENTEENTH DAY l6l 

seventy were suggested by the seventy composing 
the national council, the Sanhedrin. This might im- 
ply that his " Sanhedrin of the Kingdom " was more 
than a match for the council that should condemn 
him, yet they were unofficial workers, and repre- 
sented all laymen. That principle stands yet. 

(2) They were to " Go " Rather than Write or 
Send a Message. Truth is mighty, but not until it 
is made living and active in some person. It is the 
message brought by the messenger that arrests the 
attention and wins the life. The person is the instru- 
ment Jesus delights in. The energy of the enthu- 
siastic disciple is the agency of power with the lost. 

(3) There Must be Convictions Within the Dis- 
ciple Answering the Command of the Master. He 
aroused their sympathy for the needy, who were 
like a great harvest field, yellow for the sickle,, but 
with not enough laborers to gather it and keep it 
from wasting. Their noble, yet undisciplined, im- 
pulses would respond to all the suffering. Next 
he stirred them with the sense of the small force 
of workers, and that would make them more urg- 
ent in their interest. Then he set them praying for 
more laborers, and that further inflamed their zeal. 
Missionary conviction, then zeal, then effort — that 
is the order, even to-day. 

(4) Comradeship is Needed. The many workers 
are not needed alone by the lost and sinning, but 
they need each other. They went by twos then, for 
it was always wisest. Afterwards they sometimes 



1 62 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

went by threes — Peter, James, and John ; Paul, Bar- 
nabas, and Mark; Paul, Silas, and Timothy. They 
can prompt and hearten each other. It is seldom 
right for one to go absolutely alone into hostile or 
inhospitable mission fields. When it is required, 
then comradeship must be sought with those at 
home by every available means of communication. 

(5) Necessaries Are to be Provided. The neces- 
saries were arranged for in this case ; anything more 
was forbidden. Because they were to be away from 
him only a short time, they were to carry nothing 
that was not strictly necessary — no purse for money, 
for they had no money and no need of it, because 
the laws of hospitality provided for their entertain- 
ment and the great service they were rendering the 
people entitled them to that much ; no scrip or travel- 
ing bag, for they did not need to take extra cloth- 
ing; no shoes, for shoes were an indoor luxury, and 
sandals were for traveling. Before he forbade ex- 
tras, he was careful to know that all necessaries 
could be depended on. Had they been going far- 
ther, to stay for a longer time, they would have 
required more. Our missionaries do now. 

(6) No Time is to be Wasted. The long greet- 
ings of Eastern people who met on the road were 
very tedious and very insincere. Courtesy is one 
thing, but a long and strictly formal exchange of all 
sorts of inquiries and wishes and news and gossip is 
quite another matter. To salute one meant to go 
through all of that, and lose valuable time. 



SEVENTEENTH DAY 1 63 

(7) Gracious Courtesy is of Vital Importance. 
They must not omit such conventionalities as em- 
body a courteous spirit — like pronouncing the for- 
mal greeting to the house and its occupants, " Sha- 
lom," " Peace be with you " ; eating the food 
given them, without asking for something better; 
remaining at one house during the whole stay in 
a village. Asking for better food would make them 
appear finical and self-important; seeking another 
home, notional and fond of being entertained. The 
ardent evangelist must always hold himself ame- 
nable to the laws of courtesy. Even if bestowed on a 
churl, courtesy returns with reflex power upon him 
who employs it. 

(8) Manliness Must Mark the Christian Mis- 
sionary. He will make himself at home at the hum- 
blest table and sympathize with the neediest, yet, if 
need be, he will utter God's denunciation of sin, 
without a tremor of fear, and turn from them in 
holy indignation. He must be courageous, but 
wisely so, discriminating with clearness between 
homes and peoples and actions. Not on the streets 
or in the market-place, but in the homes, will his 
personality give out its charm and work its power 
while he delivers his message from Jesus. 

(9) Benevolent Work Must Go Along with the 
Preaching of the Gospel. He empowered them to 
do miraculous deeds. If he does not so empower 
us, he at least gives us the principle of ministry to 
the needy, within the limitations he places on us. 



164 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

Hospitals and orphanages and schools follow the 
missionary everywhere. 

(10) The Presence of Jesus is Required. He 
was coming on, right after them, to correct their 
errors and complete their instruction. In the last 
Commission he said, " I am with you alway." He 
is with us, in the Holy Spirit, and we go to the 
needy along with him. 

(11) It Will Yield a Joy All its Own. Jesus said 
it was not so much the joy that comes from doing 
marvelous things as from having their names in the 
book of life, sustaining such a relation to God as 
that he can entrust them with work to do and with 
power to do the work. That makes the joy of 
achievement permanent. 

Jesus was putting permanent principles into per- 
sonal regulations; he is speaking to us to-day. 



EIGHTEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE PEREAN PARABLES 
Luke 13 to 17 

i. The Perean Period. From the feast of 
Tabernacles in October, a. d. 29, till the Passover, 
the next April, Jesus spent much time in Perea, 
though he returned into Judea occasionally, and at 
least once came into Jerusalem — at the feast of 
Dedication, in December. (John 10 : 22-42.) We 
may properly call the time from the mission of 



EIGHTEENTH DAY 1 65 

the seventy the " Perean Period," and we are in- 
debted to Luke for the preservation of some of its 
events — only a few, however, for most of his words 
and deeds were left unrecorded. Those that are 
preserved are representative. The most interesting 
memorabilia of those several months are his para- 
bles. They have burst out again in clusters like 
spring flowers, as they did some months before. 
The three we especially study to-day are the very 
crown of his parabolic creation, the last one being 
called " the Pearl of the parables." It was probably 
in January, a. d. 30. Parables preceded and parables 
followed these three. As we look at the conditions 
in which he was speaking we see some important 
things. 

2. A New Popularity. It was popularity with the 
unfortunates. In general there were two classes, 
called " Publicans " and " Sinners." The former were 
taxgatherers, who were hated for four reasons : they 
collected taxes, and were disliked on general princi- 
ples ; they represented the despised Roman govern- 
ment; they had the privilege of getting all they 
could, unjustly, and were hated for belonging to 
such a class; they usually made good their reputa- 
tion. When a Jew became a collector he was re- 
garded as a renegade and was hated more than if 
he were a Gentile. Those called " sinners," in gen- 
eral, were the sediment and scum of society, pre- 
cipitated to the bottom by the weight of their im- 
morality, or clinging to the top by some evil power 



1 66 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

or cunning. Publicans had a bad reputation because 
of their calling ; sinners, because of their characters. 

He always did attract those two classes, be- 
cause of his interest in human beings as such, 
without regard to surface distinctions, and because 
he was unjustly hated by those who looked down 
on the unfortunates. The outcasts respected him 
for the enemies he made and for the trueness of his 
own character. Over in Perea, his revived popu- 
larity was largely with them, though the " respecta- 
ble classes " gave him considerable attention. He 
took an interest in them because they were human ; 
because they were often as much sinned against as 
sinning, their vices the echoes of the vices of those 
who called themselves virtuous; because they were 
redeemable when love and patience undertook the 
task. He took an interest in them that amounted to 
suffering for them, for he entered into their lostness 
with them. They flocked around him, for he did 
not repel them and it took them only a short while 
to see that he felt a pain on their behalf which 
longed to bless them. He treated them as if they 
were human beings, and he did it in a genuine, man- 
ly, unostentatious way. They saw that he was a 
man's man, and not a party's man, nor man's puppet. 
He demanded no little of them, but they felt all that 
he required was right, in individual purity and social 
service. These people were numerous and fur- 
nished an important element in his new popularity. 

3. A New Unpopularity. The reactionaries 



EIGHTEENTH DAY 1 67 

now had a new grievance added to all the old griev- 
ances. More than a year before, when the new con- 
vert, Matthew, who had been a publican, gave him 
a feast, it was attended by the unfortunates, of 
whom the Pharisees said, in scorn, to his disciples, 
" He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sin- 
ners." They kept complaining of it, and now, when 
Jesus has more hope of saving these unfortunates 
than of saving the Pharisees themselves, they made 
louder and angrier complaints than ever. They 
thought it showed bad taste in him and insulting 
disregard of their righteous claim on the homage 
and companionship of Israel's prophets. They lost 
no time in letting him know and no opportunity of 
reminding him afresh of it. Their old grievances 
still held — his disregard of traditions about wash- 
ings and fastings and the Sabbath ; their old efforts 
at entrapping him were renewed with even more 
ignoble cunning. 

4. A New Kind of Parable. We notice that 
parables are numerous now. He has a story to meet 
every emergency of controversy or instruction, and 
it is always exactly adapted to his purpose. We also 
notice that his parables are easily understood by all, 
instead of concealing his thought from some and re- 
vealing it to others, as the first great group did. We 
notice too, that they are the instrument of an ag- 
gressive attack on his opposers. They are effective 
too, in silencing and often humiliating them. With 
his parables, he exposes individual wickedness, de- 



1 68 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

nounces national sins, and reveals his own Messianic 
purposes. A glance at the events following the 
mission of the seventy will find him pursuing this 
method. To the lawyer who asked him what was 
the greatest law and who was his neighbor, Jesus 
told of the "Good Samaritan," and he cut the ground 
of Jewish conceit from under him. 

The " Friend at Midnight " teaches importunate 
prayer. " The Cleansed House " answers the charge 
of being in league with Beelzebub. His denuncia- 
tion of the Pharisees for external, without internal, 
cleanliness is terrific. Read the parables of " The 
Rich Fool," " The Master Coming Unexpectedly," 
"The Barren Fig Tree," "Mustard Seed," "Leaven." 
His message to Herod is unflinchingly fearless. 
" The Ox in the Pit," the " Great Supper," " Count- 
ing the Cost," the " Lost Things," "Dives and Laza- 
rus," the " Shrewd Steward " — these parables show 
his mood and method. 

5. His New Argument. It was what Dr. Mun- 
ger calls " the argument from experience and the 
appeal to life " itself. Judging by the pains he took 
to answer them with these three gracious parables, 
we infer that of all the complaints they made against 
him they put most vehemence and venom into the 
charge that he was degrading himself and in- 
sulting them by his kindly interest in the vile 
" publicans and sinners." That disclosed their 
deadliest sin, the sin of being inhuman. They 
dehumanized men and women with flesh and 



EIGHTEENTH DAY 1 69 

blood and hearts, and did it because they were 
wicked or weak. To hate one, not for any personal 
injury received from him, but for his misfor- 
tunes or sins or social status, is inhuman, yes, devil- 
ish. They have reached the limit. It was in vain 
to quote the law of Moses: they had long ago 
supplanted Moses with rabbinical interpretations of 
him. It was in vain to speak with that authority 
of his own which was so patent and majestic: they 
had no eyes to see it and had already been asking 
him to produce his credentials that gave him author- 
ity to teach and work miracles. But he knows they 
have had some experience in life that will give over- 
whelming confirmation to what he says. That is 
an argument hitherto unused. 

They claimed that they were good people who 
had never strayed from right paths, and they de- 
spised and abandoned the poor wretches who had 
done so. Jesus tells them that, granting they 
themselves were good people who needed not to 
repent, and that the publicans and sinners were as 
bad as possible, that would be all the greater reason 
for seeking to save them, and, in not doing so, they 
were reversing their own principles of conduct. If 
a man loses one sheep, although it is only one out 
of a hundred, he will use every effort in recovering 
it,, out of all proportion to its intrinsic worth. He 
will really neglect the ninety and nine and go to 
all kinds of trouble and pains till he has it safe in 
the fold. He will have all the greater joy because 



1^0 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

it was his own sheep and had no right to be lost. 
When a woman loses a coin, she will light up the 
little windowless, dirt-floor room and sweep and 
search till she find it. She might think of its in- 
trinsic worth; she might esteem it as a keepsake, 
but it is hers and she would rather have it back 
than another just like it. When a wayward boy 
leaves home and degrades himself in vice, it is in 
the nature of fatherhood to want him back, seek 
his return in every effective way, welcome him when 
want and heart sickness drive him home, and re- 
store him to his place as a son. The penitent boy 
might think he was fortunate in getting even a 
servant's place in his father's house, but to see him 
in that place would never satisfy a father's heart, 
would always wound a father's love. The elder 
brother may never have gone astray as the younger 
did, but he has lost something — a brother's heart. 
It is of the nature of brotherhood that it welcomes 
the penitent home. When it does not do so, it is un- 
natural, inhuman. The Pharisees are taken at their 
own appraisement, in order to show their dark sin 
of unnaturalness. 

Jesus is here not only routing an enemy, but re- 
vealing himself. We note three things — his sense 
of man's lostness ; his indomitable search for the 
lost; his joy in recovering the lost. Valuable prop- 
erty has slipped from his grasp, not by rolling away, 
as the coin did ; not from stupidity, as with the 
sheep, but by deliberate and brutal waywardness, as 



EIGHTEENTH DAY I/I 

in the case of the boy. He has lost not only a pos- 
session, but his very heart. The father suffered 
with that wild boy. Jesus felt the lostness of sin- 
ners. His heart was pained by their sins and 
pinched by their sorrows. He felt as if he were 
lost with them. His search — it was hunting for 
lost property, lost sons, lost brothers. He cannot 
stop till he find them. And the joy — it is unspeak- 
able, and all the family of God and the angels, the 
family servants, join in, till heaven is ringing with 
gladness over lost people found. The unbrotherly 
Pharisees have called forth a most wonderful rev- 
elation of the Saviour's goodness and greatness. 

6. The New Mission of Wealth. He pro- 
pounds these principles in two more of those " Pe- 
rean Parables " — brotherhood, service, stewardship. 
Brotherhood leads to service; service uses all the 
powers in one's possession: therefore all power is a 
trust. Wealth is one form of power to be used in 
service. In two parables Jesus sets this forth. In 
" Dives and Lazarus " he shows that the man who 
had this power, and an easy opportunity to use it, 
shut himself off from mercy by ignoring his respon- 
sibility to a fellow-being who was in want. In the 
" Shrewd Steward " one debtor cheats his employer 
and helps his fellow-debtors to do the same, so that 
they would feel under obligation to him, for saving 
money for them, and he would have control over 
them because they were his partners in wickedness. 
If a bad man does so, a good man may so use his 



172 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

money, in serving his fellows, that those who go on 
before will be ready to welcome him with grateful 
joy into the " eternal habitations." 

These parables might be called the sociological 
parables. 



NINETEENTH DAY 

THE DAY OF THE RAISING OF LAZARUS 
John 11 : 1-J4 

i. Told by John Alone. That the most extraor- 
dinary miracle Christ ever performed should be 
told by only one evangelist is indeed a matter of sur- 
prise. Nor is it surprising that critics have been led 
by that fact into a most rigid inquiry into the genu- 
ineness and trustworthiness of the story. Beyschlag 
has shown however that the silence of the three on 
this miracle is not more inexplainable than the si- 
lence of all four evangelists concerning the appear- 
ance of the risen Christ to James and " above five 
hundred brethren " in Galilee — appearances re- 
corded by Paul alone. The selection of incidents by 
the four writers is often governed by principles that 
we cannot fully understand. It may be said, in a 
general way, that " the evangelists did not obey the 
ordinary canons of biography " ; that " John is es- 
pecially the historian of the Judean ministry and 
of the Passion." To quote Doctor Dawson : " Three- 
fourths of his entire Gospel, as we have seen, is de- 



NINETEENTH DAY 173 

voted to the last six months of the life of Jesus. He 
is, therefore, the natural historian of Lazarus, and 
it is possible that he shared the friendship of the 
house at Bethany in a degree not known to Matthew 
or Peter." This resurrection of Lazarus accounts, 
in large degree, for the revived enthusiasm among 
the people, which manifested itself at the time of the 
Passover in April. The accounts of his closing days 
say nothing of it, because the charge on which they 
tried him was political. The officials acknowledged 
that he worked miracles, but they did not regard 
them as evidence of his Messiahship — they were 
stirred only by the effect of his miracles on the 
people. 

2. The Time. It must now be about January or 
February, a. d. 30, just at the most stirring moment 
of Christ's work over in Perea. We can easily 
imagine that it was as he finished speaking those 
matchless parables, the swift messenger from his 
friends in Bethany bore him the pathetic informa- 
tion from the two sisters : " Lord, behold, he whom 
thou lovest is sick." The Passover that year was 
April 6, and as this miracle gave a powerful im- 
petus to the purpose of the leaders to kill him, it 
was not very long before his death, perhaps we 
might say late in January. 

3. Christ's Special Friendships. He had spe- 
cial friends, and Lazarus was one of them, as the 
words of the sisters claim — " he whom thou lovest 
is sick." We know that John the apostle was an 



174 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

intimate friend, as he always spoke of himself as 
" the disciple whom Jesus loved," and all the others 
seemed to concede to him that honor. These two 
sisters were intimate friends. On one former occa- 
sion he was in their home and gently chided Mar- 
tha, not for ministering to him and his disciples, but 
for thinking of that alone, while he approved of 
Mary for knowing her opportunity to learn of him. 

Jesus had something in him that made him friends, 
in addition to the ministry of healing and teaching 
that he rendered. He had the instincts and talents 
for friendship. He knew people, enjoyed them, and 
in proportion to their ability to utilize his personal 
friendship he bestowed it upon them. There was 
reserve in him, but he knew how to give freedom 
and allow privileges. Twelve were close friends ; 
three of them closer friends ; one of them closest of 
all — John. Among the other disciples, rare spirits 
came close to him, men and women. Among women 
were Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward; 
Mary Magdalene, who has been unjustly treated by 
tradition ; Salome, mother of James and John ; these 
two sisters at Bethany. Women gave him " that 
peculiar sympathy and highly idealized affection " 
which he could perfectly receive and appreciate. 

For the home in Bethany Jesus had a peculiar 
love. They probably became disciples at the time of 
his inaugural at Jerusalem and their home was his 
home whenever he came thereabouts. A little while 
before, he had been their guest (Luke 10) ; at the 



NINETEENTH DAY 175 

final Passover they will show him special kindness: 
Mary will anoint his feet and their home will be 
a sympathetic stopping-place. 

Some qualities in this family shine out and ex- 
plain the friendship. They were good people, af- 
fectionate and unselfish among themselves. All the 
home instincts were native to Jesus and were nur- 
tured in him, and, when he saw a good home, he en- 
joyed it. He knew its deep meaning and felt its 
highest ideals. When he saw others who were 
somewhat like-minded it drew him to them. When 
brothers and sisters understood and cherished each 
other, it gave him all the greater pleasure for the 
privation he had suffered from the beginning. His 
own brothers had never appreciated him. The 
homeless life he was compelled to live intensified 
these feelings and led him to enjoy all the more 
acutely the loving hospitality offered by his friends. 
Wherever he stopped he became "master of the 
house," and they always felt that he brought more to 
them than they bestowed on him. He had found 
fine aptitudes in that home in Bethany, but had im- 
measurably refined and enlarged and ennobled its 
life. 

They had shown those personal qualities to which 
he always opened the door of special intimacy— ap- 
preciation of him and of the blessings he brought; 
insight into his spirit and purpose; the sentiments 
of service, ministry, which were the exclusive and 
controlling sentiments of his own life. Lazarus 



I76 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

seems a quiet, sober, gentle, confiding man. Martha 
is sturdy, matter-of-fact, faithful to duty at any cost, 
absolutely to be relied on, never defeated. Mary is 
intellectual, artistic, spiritual, and that pleases him. 
She had the insight of the poet and the rapture of 
the mystic. Into her heart he could pour his rarest 
truths and know that she could use them and, in a 
high degree, understand them. These friends seem 
to have been in his confidence and to have known his 
movements, for they had no difficulty in directing 
the messenger to him. He must have had some 
thought of them when at last he led his disciples 
out " as far as Bethany " and was taken up from 
their gaze into the sky. 

4. The Expectation of the Sisters. They evi- 
dently expected him to prevent the death of Lazarus, 
either by coming or by curing him without coming. 
They knew his love for Lazarus, his love of doing 
good, and his power to cure at a distance. They 
counted on his friendship, for Martha reproachfully 
says, " If thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
died," and hints what she wishes, " even now I know 
that whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will 
give it thee." They knew he would return at his 
peril, but expected him to do it or cure him at a 
distance. His failure to come or send them a word 
of sympathy, or encouragement, perplexed and dis- 
appointed them. They could not explain it, yet 
never lost confidence in him. 

5. His Decision. It seems to have been made in- 



NINETEENTH DAY 177 

stantly — to let Lazarus die and then restore him. 
His statement to the disciples, his delay and his sub- 
sequent statement that Lazarus was sleeping, sup- 
port that interpretation. His decision to restore him 
from sickness or death is a single purpose to glorify 
his Father by showing forth his own glorious char- 
acter. His motive is a composite one — sympathy 
with the sisters, with his disciples and with the 
needy people. To the sisters he will restore a be- 
loved brother ; to the disciples he will give a needed 
help for their faith ; to the people he will make a 
final appeal. This is his deliberate plan, adopted 
in the face of marked difficulties, such as these: 
the peril to which he will subject himself in going 
into the very camp of his enemies; the added pain 
his delay will give the sisters ; the confusion it will 
cost the disciples and the strain upon their courage. 
But the final joy of the sisters will be all the 
greater for the delay, and they will learn one new 
truth — that Jesus cannot only accomplish the resur- 
rection, but that he is the resurrection. The dis- 
ciples will learn some important truths — that he 
is safe till his work is done and so are they; that 
he has all the power they ever dreamed he had, not- 
withstanding the insinuations they have heard 
against him ; that what they call death is really 
sleep. The people will have final proof of his power 
over the dead, and many will believe on him. 

6. Sleep and Death. What they called death he 
called sleep. He reserved the term death for a 



I78 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

more awful thing. Death is separation from the 
source of life. The soul keeps the body alive, and 
when the two are separated we say the person is 
dead. It is a mistake. The body is dead, but the 
soul lives on. If that same soul is separated from 
God, the source of its true life, then it is dead in- 
deed. He sought to get the disciples to say " sleep," 
but when Thomas refused to see it so, he said in 
effect, " very well, then ; we will say ' death.' " 
Thomas was a real hero, in being willing to return 
to the scene of danger and die with Lazarus. 

7. His Emotions at the Grave. They were com- 
plex — sympathy for the sorrowing, anxiety for their 
training, indignation at the insincerity of the pro- 
fessional mourners, and at the viciousness that 
would seek to make this miracle the ground for 
trying to kill both him and Lazarus. His spirit 
boiled in a paroxysm of mingled emotions. It came 
out in his tears and groans and the shudder that 
passed over his body. 

Perfect faith in his Father and a consuming love 
for men held his emotions in balance. 

8. Reinvigoration of Faith. He restored to the 
sisters all they had lost, and more: he gave them a 
new sense of his relation to life itself, as its orig- 
inating and sustaining source. This was the great 
miracle of friendship. 

He gave needed confirmation to the faith of his 
disciples. His enemies had been questioning the 
reality of resurrection in the cases of Jairus' daugh- 



NINETEENTH DAY 179 

ter and the widow's son, on the ground that the al- 
leged resurrections were so soon after death, and 
imposture was easy. If the disciples were at all 
affected by such talk, they saw in this instance 
something that no one could doubt. Lazarus had 
been dead four days; decomposition had begun; 
enemies were standing about and witnessed it. 

Many others who had been holding his claims 
in abeyance were at last convinced that he was the 
Christ, and a wave of enthusiasm spread out 
through Bethany and Jerusalem. He had prayed 
for permission to raise Lazarus before coming, and 
now, as he publicly renders thanks to his Father 
for hearing him, he wins many of them to faith. 

9. The Final Plot Against Him. His enemies 
recognized the miracle, never denied it, but were 
all the more determined to kill him. They could not 
put him to death on a religious charge, and they 
framed one that would make him obnoxious to the 
Roman government. Their former determination 
was fixed, as they saw his dangerous influence with 
the people growing. No time was to be lost. 

10. The Testimony of Caiaphas. He was the 
Sadducean high priest, and justified taking the life 
of Jesus on the ground that the peace of the nation 
with Rome could only be kept by putting him out 
of the way, and that it was right to sacrifice one for 
all. A significance was in his words that he was 
not aware of, for he spoke officially, and, as many 
another had done, he uttered a truth of deepest mo- 



180 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

ment, when he said that one should die for the 
many. That is what Jesus really did. 

ii. The World's Resurrection. That deed is 
the proclamation to a small circle that Jesus, as 
Lord of life, will restore each body to its spirit, and 
that resurrection is the sequence of death; another 
incomparable deed will complete the proclamation 
to all the world — when he himself shall arise out of 
his rock-hewn sepulchre and walk forth in the 
power of an endless life. 



IV 

PERIOD OF DECLINING 
POPULARITY 

Continued 

C. The last week. In Bethany and Jerusalem. 

Saturday evening, April I, A. D. 30. 

129. Jesus anointed by Mary in Bethany. John 12 : 1-IIj 

Matt. 26 : 6-13 ; Mark 14 : 3-9. 
Sunday, April 2. 

130. The triumphal entry. Matt. 21 : I-II ; Mark II : 

I-ll ; Luke 19 : 29-44; J onn I2 : 12-19. 
Monday, April 3. 

131. The fig tree cursed. Matt. 21 : 18, 19; Mark 11 : 

12-14. 

132. Second cleansing of the temple. Matt. 21 : 12-17 ; 

Mark II : 15-19; Luke 19 : 45-48. 

Tuesday, April 4. 

133. The fig tree withered. Mark 11 : 20-25. 

134. His authority challenged. Matt. 21 : 23-27 ; Mark 

II : 27-33 > Luke 20 : 1-8. 

135. Three parables of judgment. Matt. 21 : 28 to 22 : 14 ; 

Mark 12 : 1-12 ; Luke 20 : 9-19. 

136. Effort to entrap him with questions. Matt. 22 : 15- 

40 ; Mark 12 : 13-34 ; Luke 20 : 20-40. 

137. He silences them with a question. Matt. 22 : 41-46 ; 

Mark 12 : 35-37 ; Luke 20 : 41-44. 

138. His denunciation of scribes and Pharisees. Matt. 

23 ; Mark 12 : 38-40 ; Luke 20 : 45-47. 

139. The widow's mite. Mark 12 : 41-44 ; Luke 21 : 1-4. 

140. Greeks seek Jesus. John 12 : 20-36. 

141. The Jews reject him. John 12 : 20-50. 

142. Discourses concerning the future. Matt. 24, 25 ; 

Mark 13 ; Luke 21 : 5-38. 



143- Judas bargains to betray him. Matt. 26 : 1-5, 14-16 ; 
Mark 14 : I, 2, 10, 11 ; Luke 22 : 1-6 . 

Thursday, April 6. 

144. The last Passover supper. Matt. 26 : 17-25 ; Mark 

14 : 12-31 ; Luke 22 : 7-16, 21-38 ; John 13. 

145. The first Lord's Supper. Matt. 26 : 26-29 J Mark 

14 : 22-25 5 Luke 22 : 17-20 ; I Cor. II : 23-26. 

146. The farewell talk to the disciples. John 14-16. 

147. The closing prayer. John 17. 

Friday, April 7. 

148. Private prayer, in Gethsemane, for the ordeal. Matt. 

26 : 30-36 ; Mark 14 : 26, 32 ; Luke 22 : 39, 40 ; 
John 18 : I. 

149. The awful agony. Matt. 26 : 37-46 ; Mark 14 : 33-42 ; 

Luke 22 : 41-46. 

150. The betrayal and arrest. Matt. 26 : 47-56 ; Mark 

14 : 43-52 ; Luke 22 : 47-53 ; John 18 : 2-1 1. 

151. Informal trial before Annas. John 18 : 12-14, I 9 -2 3- 

152. Informal trial before Caiaphas, before dawn. Matt. 

2 6 : 57, 59-75 ; Mark 14 : 53, 59-72 ; Luke 22 : 
54, 63-65 ; John 18 : 24, 15-18, 25-27. 

153. Formal trial by Sanhedrin, after dawn. Matt. 27 : I, 

2 ; Mark 15 : I ; Luke 22 : 66 to 23 : I ; John 
18 : 28. 

154. Jesus before Pilate. Matt. 27 : n-14; Mark 15 : 

2-5 ; Luke 23 : 2-5 ; John 18 : 28-38. 

155. Jesus before Herod the tetrarch of Galilee. Luke 

23 : 6-12. 

156. Before Pilate again and condemned to death. Matt. 

27 : 15-30 ; Mark 15 : 6-19 ; Luke 23 : 13-25 ; 
John 18 : 39 to 19 : 16. 

157. Suicide of Judas. Matt. 27 : 3-10 ; Acts I : 18, 19. 

158. Jesus crucified and buried. Matt. 27 : 31-66; Mark 

15 : 20-47; Luke 23 : 26-56; John 19 : 16, 17, 
31-42. 

Saturday, April 8. 

159. The watch at the sepulchre. Matt. 27 : 62-66. 



TWENTIETH DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS FESTAL ENTERTAINMENT 
Matt. 26 : 6-16 ; Mark 14 : 3-1 1 ; John is : i-g 

I. Seeking the Mountain Solitudes. He knew 
that the raising of Lazarus would stir the people 
to an unwholesome excitement and would arouse 
the officials to a new attempt upon his life. The 
people would be ready to follow him, except as they 
were restrained by fear of their leaders. He knew 
the fears and the plans of his enemies. They feared 
a popular Messianic movement that Rome would 
regard as treason and would punish by taking away 
what liberties they had. This, in addition to the loss 
of personal prestige with the people, aroused viru- 
lent resentment against Jesus. They were ready to 
do him violence at once, but Jesus knows that he 
is to be the sacrificial lamb and can only be offered 
at the Passover. He knows the officials have many 
difficulties in the way of carrying out their plans, 
such as the popular regard for him and the neces- 
sity for securing the approval of Rome: He was 
able to delay their action ; " the initiative of events 
is with him." 

There is no place more suitable for him now than 
the mountains of Ephraim. There he would find 
quiet, even solitude. He could commune with his 

183 



1 84 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

Father and with himself, uninterrupted by the voices 
of men. There his spirit would be reinforced by 
the memory of his victory over temptations in that 
same region, three years before, and by the thought 
of his brave yet gentle forerunner, John. Perhaps, 
he dismissed his followers, for a few days, and went 
alone, or took only John, the apostle, with him. 

2. Rendering Wayside Ministries. How long 
he spent in solitude no one knows. We soon find him 
on his way to Jerusalem and, despite the shadow 
falling on him from the cross, he is dispensing 
blessings as he goes. He might have spent a short 
while moving from place to place, working as he 
went. Among the events of that period, while he 
was going about or journeying onward to Jeru- 
salem, were the healing of the ten lepers ; speaking 
the parable of the Pharisee and Publican; the dis- 
cussion on divorce ; blessing the little children ; test- 
ing the rich young ruler; receiving the ambitious 
request of Salome, in behalf of her sons, James and 
John; curing the blind men at Jericho; the inter- 
view with Zaccheus; speaking the parable of the 
Talents. Every step led to an opportunity; every 
opportunity was seen by him ; every opportunity was 
seized by him. 

3. Journeying to the Cross. No march of mili- 
tant hosts to the field of battle was ever so sublime 
as this journey to Jerusalem. He knew that death 
was awaiting him, and death brought about by be- 
trayal, falsehood, and the perversion of justice. Yet 



TWENTIETH DAY 1 85 



he moved steadily onward. The glad festal throngs, 
going up to Jerusalem, were wondering what he 
would do, and were enjoying his company, his 
teachings and his deeds of mercy, but he kept his 
own counsel. He knew that the discussion which 
arose, after the raising of Lazarus, had not sub- 
sided, and that he was the topic of excited conver- 
sation in the city, the pilgrims from Europe and 
Africa and the distant East inquiring about him; 
the sympathetic home people fearing for him, know- 
ing the spirit of their leaders; the non-committal 
Judeans waiting in uncertainty ; the " chief priests 
and Pharisees " watching to arrest him. He knew 
all that, and he marched on into the district of 
danger, the calmest one of all. 

4. Among Friends Again, in Bethany. Climb- 
ing the hills from Jericho, where he cured the blind 
men, met Zaccheus and spoke the parables of the 
Talents, the pilgrims reached Bethany " six days 
before the Passover," which would be Friday, 
March 31, a. d. 30. The throngs swept on, that they 
might spend the Sabbath in the sacred city, for the 
Sabbath began at sundown that very evening, while 
Jesus and the Twelve stopped with their friends in 
Bethany. In that seclusion he will be safer ; in that 
sympathetic atmosphere, more comfortable; in that 
environment and on that day he will find something 
to do in training the faith of the faithful and pre- 
paring them for the trial awaiting them; on that 
Sabbath, he will enjoy rest and worship with those 



1 86 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

who have learned to love him for his worth and owe 
him deathless gratitude for the restoration of 
Lazarus to life. 

5. Honored by the Villagers. The feast seems 
to have been given by the villagers generally, who 
felt that he had been their friend, both in raising 
Lazarus from the dead and in making Bethany his 
usual stopping-place. It was given at the house of 
a man who was still called " Simon the leper," 
though Jesus had probably cured him long before, 
and perhaps his house was chosen, because it was 
the most convenient and commodious for such a 
gathering. The exact day of the feast is not given. 
John writes as if it was soon after his arrival at 
Bethany. That would make it Saturday after sun- 
set, when the Sabbath was past. Matthew and Mark 
tell of it after their accounts of his conflicts with the 
officials on Tuesday. That would make it fall on 
Tuesday or Wednesday evening, more likely the 
latter. Whether the supper was Saturday or Wed- 
nesday evening no one knows. Without going fur- 
ther into the discussion, let us assume that it was 
Saturday. We know that not one of the writers is 
strictly chronological. 

At this feast we can imagine many friends gath- 
ered. We know three of them and they were all 
there in character — Lazarus, sitting quiet and rever- 
ent ; Martha, waiting on the table, of course ; Mary, 
penetrating into the deeper meaning of his mission 
and showing it in her own unique way. 



TWENTIETH DAY 1 87 



6. A New Encouragement. It came through the 
anointing, but from Mary. It was not the anointing 
itself, but the insight that preceded and the love that 
prompted it. It was a custom among Orientals to 
anoint the head of guests at feasts and she had 
been assigned to that service or had requested the 
honor or had come in after the formal and regular 
anointing, by some one else. She had an insight 
into the meaning of Christ's life that no one else had 
ever shown. She knew the plots against him and 
she knew that he was to achieve something. It was 
dim and uncertain to her, but she knew more than 
any one else. She felt more than she knew and she 
knew more than she could express. She could not 
do enough for him, even in using this precious 
cruse of ointment, which she had possibly bought 
for embalming the body of Lazarus. The deed had 
a significance to Jesus which it did not have even 
to her, and yet she felt, in her very soul, that he had 
some strange, tragical need of just such ministry as 
she was rendering. 

She showed her complete, unselfish love and her 
unerring insight, in what she did — in the costliness 
of the perfume ; in anointing his feet as well as his 
head ; in wiping his feet with her hair, for it was in 
violation of custom to loosen the fillets and appear 
with disheveled hair; in the wonderful revelations 
which her countenance must have made. Jesus saw 
that she had an insight into his character and mis- 
sion that no one else had ever shown, and he felt 



THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



a thrill of hope which heartened him for his tragic 
task. He had the joy of being, in some degree, 
understood. 

How she came to know as much as she did is not 
hard to see. She was a woman and had a refined 
woman's intuition; she was a poet and had the 
mystic's imagination and feeling ; she had long been 
a student at his feet and had strained the eye of an 
acute intellect and a pure heart to see into the 
depths of his teaching; she had felt her limitation 
and God had spoken direct to her trusting soul. 

7. His Approval of Mere Sentiment. His words 
of approval are called forth by the brutal growl of 
Judas, who kept it up till the rest thoughtlessly 
joined in. Judas said that three hundred pence — a 
whole year's wages of a laboring man, with pur- 
chasing power equal to three hundred dollars in our 
money — spent that way was a waste and should 
have been spent on the poor. Granting that he 
really wanted the poor to have it, we can see the 
fallacy in his reasoning. She had done a useful 
thing in expressing such sentiments, for if they 
are not expressed, in some way, they are repressed; 
when they are repressed, the poor will be forgotten. 
" Love thrives upon its own redeeming irrationali- 
ties. It is divinely wasteful; it is abandonment or 
nothing." The money spent in expressing and in- 
creasing love passes on into all the higher values. 
He gives Mary an immortality of fame and influ- 
ence, assuring her that her fine deed will stimulate 



TWENTIETH DAY 



the imagination and ideals and affections and ef- 
forts of people as the story is told from generation 
to generation. Those three hundred pence have 
stimulated more gifts to the poor than any same 
amount ever invested. 

8. His Vindication of the Poor. We are com- 
ing to see, more and more, as he saw clearly, that 
the poor have hearts and brains, as well as stomachs 
and backs, and need something besides food and 
clothes. They need love and truth and friendship 
and culture; they can enjoy the noble spectacle of 
an extravagant and uncalculating love, giving its 
rarest treasures to Him who is highest and best, and 
growing greater thereby. 

9. His Loss of a Wasted Man. Judas must not 
escape our attention, though we shall give a little 
more thought to him in a later lesson. Jesus called 
him " the son of perdition," which means " the son 
of waste." He complained of wasting money, but 
had wasted a man, a promising man, himself. Time 
was, when he had some generous and promising 
sentiments, and he had the best of opportunities. 
But the vicious sentiments had become dominant 
and the man had grown less and less, till now he 
was gone, wasted, diabolized. He had turned against 
Jesus, and John described either his hidden dis- 
position or his definite actions in calling him a thief. 
He was a liar, as well. The blood too was frozen 
in his avaricious veins, and if the money had been 
voted to the poor and had passed through his hands, 



190 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

as treasurer, they would never have seen it. He, 
now, has a diabolical vindictiveness toward Christ, 
and though the precious ointment was already used, 
when he made the complaint, and it would really 
have been too late to sell it, he sought to excite as 
much dislike for Jesus as possible. He has aban- 
doned his Master at heart and cannot restrain his 
hatred. He will be seeking to turn his hatred to 
profit. 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY 

Matt. 21 : 1-17 ; Mark 11 : 1-11 ; Luke 19 : 29-46; 

John 12 : 12— 1 g 

It was Sunday, April 2, a. d. 30, one week before 
his resurrection day, and it seems to have been in 
the afternoon, as we learn that the evening came on, 
just at the close of the march to the temple, and he 
then returned to Bethany for the night. 

1. The Crowds that Attended Him. They 
were mostly visitors and were from everywhere, 
quite a little company from Bethany and from out 
in Judea, who had seen him raise Lazarus from the 
dead; throngs from a distance, some of whom had 
traveled in the same caravan with him ; others from 
distant lands which his fame had reached. Some 
were camped in the outskirts ; some were just com- 
ing up in caravans; some were lingering around, 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY I9I 

waiting for him to move; some were already in the 
city: all were excited. Those in the city came out 
to meet him, when they heard that he was coming, 
and then they turned about and led the procession 
back, one section of the procession following, the 
other preceding him. 

He is the center of interest during that whole 
Passover period and entirely eclipses all the other 
attractions. Long before the festival came on, all 
were discussing him. All of them had come up, 
with the old deathless hope that some deliverance 
might at last come to the nation, and were discussing 
the marvelous doings of this Galilean prophet, es- 
pecially the raising of Lazarus. They were wonder- 
ing if he would not at last make a bold and con- 
vincing claim to Messiahship. The opposition of 
the rulers, known everywhere, stirred the people to 
a still wilder excitement. 

2. His Deliberate Plan for a Royal Demon- 
stration. It was something he never would have 
allowed before. Now it is his own idea and he 
takes the initiative in carrying it out. He has rea- 
sons for it. It is not that he has, at last, yielded 
to the clamor of the people for a demonstration. He 
was not in the habit of so doing, and there is no sign 
of that in this instance. He has not surrendered his 
power of unerring self-direction. It is not that he 
is seized with a sudden mad passion for notoriety, 
for he will riot reach the eastern gate of the city be- 
fore he will sink into comparative insignificance, in 



192 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

the sudden revulsion of popular feeling. He was 
too strong to be swayed by the impulsive wishes of 
fickle admirers and too genuine to seek an ignoble 
or grotesque or picturesque fame. He plans it out, 
under a decision, deliberately formed; he waits till 
the very right moment has arrived; he carries out 
his plan, in all its necessary details — as in sending 
two disciples for a suitable steed. 

3. The Reason For It. As he had always de- 
clined to claim his kingship in any public way, as 
he knew the inflammable and superficial enthusiasm 
of the people was not to be trusted, as he knew the 
leaders would be further enraged and would be con- 
firmed in their purpose to kill him, why should he 
doit? 

It was, first of all, God's will as he had given ex- 
pression to it in prophecy (Isaiah 62 : 11 and Zech. 
9:9), "tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold thy 
King cometh unto thee." It was also his duty to 
the people to declare himself in some way and have 
them face their king and their opportunity. Further, 
he would so fire the imagination of the people that 
their convictions would reassert themselves after his 
resurrection. He would test the nation's claim that 
they want a Messiah, reveal them to themselves, 
and possibly lead them to repentance. And he will 
tighten his grasp upon his own, by what they see 
and what they say. Is it not also possible that he 
was making one final appeal to the people, as such, 
rather than to their officials? 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY 1 93 

This was the time to do it. The prophetic word 
suits the occasion. His life is almost done, and 
whatever happens, no evil, greater than what he 
knows is coming, can befall him or his disciples. 
Less harm and more good will be done by a demon- 
stration now. 

4. The Revived Hope of the People. The air 
was athrill that morning. The surging up of the 
old hope of a deliverer; the increasing enthusiasm 
stirred by the fast-flying news that something was 
to happen; the uplifting look on his face, as they 
met him here and there — all of it meant expecta- 
tion. The people thought he would at last solve 
their problems and settle their doubts. 

The disciples felt it. They knew his power to 
work wonders, knew that, by asserting that power, 
he could terrorize the rulers and send a thrill of fear 
to the very heart of Rome itself. They knew it, as 
we also know it, but they did not know that his was 
the power to suffer and serve and redeem. They 
now think that he is at last to do what they had all 
along thought he ought to do. When they heard 
the talk that morning and saw his looks, their hopes 
grew up. When they were sent for the steed, they 
must have had difficulty in containing themselves, 
for the ass, as well as the horse, was a steed for 
kings. He wore no royal robes, but they knew he 
had a royal soul, a kingly character. 

We can feel the joy of that day. The people 
thought they at last had their Messiah and that their 



194 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

long privation was at an end ; they thought they had 
their promised king and that slavery to Rome was to 
cease. As a result, their enthusiasm knew no limit. 
It showed itself in making a saddle for the steed 
out of their own clothes; in strewing the path not 
with fading flowers, but with palm branches, sym- 
bols of victory, and with their own garments, sym- 
bol of the consecrated lives which those garments 
protect and adorn; in the glad songs they sing to 
him, as the son of David, come to restore the 
nation to its freedom and its fame. 

All fear was gone. They called him " king," not 
caring whether it would be thought treason against 
Rome, for they knew that one, who had such power 
over disease, and death, and devils, and nature, and 
man, as he had, had nothing to fear from Jerusalem 
or Rome. 

5. His Acute Sadness. He could never before 
have had greater distress than at that moment, 
when the procession swept around the south- 
ern end of the Mount of Olives and came 
suddenly in sight of the splendid city. He knew 
the people well. There had always been an an- 
tagonism between their Messianic ideas and his 
own and that was just as marked to-day as ever. 
It had shown in his refusal to make a demon- 
stration when they wanted one and now in his 
giving them the kind they will soon grow weary of. 
Under the manipulation of skilful leaders, some of 
those people who are crying " Hosanna " to-day will 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY 1 95 

say " Crucify him " next Friday. Before they reach 
the temple enclosure most of them will lose a large 
part of their ardor. This demonstration is pro- 
vincial, and comes partly from provincial pride, 
while the nation's heart, there in Jerusalem, is re- 
jecting him with blind rage. The beauty of the sur- 
rounding landscape, the heroic history lying back of 
its present life, the indescribable splendor of the city 
itself, make her sin all the deadlier and her doom 
all the darker. As he thought of this, his sadness 
showed in his looks, his tears, and his pitying, re- 
proachful words. The last word is not more than 
spoken, when a change comes over the crowd. 

6. The Sudden Disappointment of the People. 
He had, all along, seen the antagonism between their 
Messianic ideals and his own: now they see and 
feel it, as they never had before. It comes on them 
with a shocking suddenness. Instead of seeing him 
lift his face with the look of a Conqueror about to 
ascend his throne, they see him drop his face in 
shame and weep in seeming weakness ; instead of 
quickening his pace, they see him halt in hesitancy ; 
instead of proclaiming the deliverance of the sacred 
city from the tyranny of her foes, he foretells her 
destruction by those same enemies, who will be- 
siege her and finish her doom. This is strange talk, 
and they cannot understand him. They are con- 
vinced that he is weak or insane, and yet his ma- 
jestic personality has still a fascination for them. 
Evidently, he is not the Messiah and they have 



I96 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

been befooled. People never forgive a hesitating or 
a disappointing leader. In this case they felt so sure 
they were to be led to liberty and a new national im- 
portance, they had not hesitated to say a really treas- 
onable word. They said what is about equivalent to 
" Long live the king," and they meant him, not 
Csesar. Now he has not justified their revolutionary 
boldness, and they begin to think of the conse- 
quences. The Jewish officials are to be feared; the 
Roman officers will hear of it ; Jesus himself has no 
protection to offer them. The reaction from their 
enthusiasm has come, but they follow him on into 
the city, for most of the crowd were too far from 
him to have seen it all. 

With disappointment there naturally comes re- 
sentment, but prudence prevents a sudden desertion. 
Some of them will probably join the Jerusalemite 
Jews in calling for his crucifixion the next Friday. 
Many retain their enthusiasm to the close of the day, 
but the crowd, as a whole, is of a soberer temper 
when they enter the city. These Galileans change 
their tone, and when the people in the houses ask, 
as the procession moves along, who he is, they no 
longer say he is the king who has at last come, but 
they simply give the name he is usually called by — 
" the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee." 
They melt away and leave the few who are not so 
much disappointed. From that time he is only a 
prophet to them, of what rank they are uncertain. 

7. His Enemies Encouraged. When they first 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY 1 97 

saw the shouting crowds they lost hope and said, 
" All the world has gone after him." But when 
they saw the disappointment of many and knew 
they could now bring the charge of treason against 
him, for setting himself up as a rival of Caesar's and 
receiving kingly homage, they grew bold and in- 
solent. They even told him that the shouts of some 
boys about the temple should be stopped as treason- 
able. His majesty still intimidated them, however, 
as he stood in the temple enclosure and showed his 
masterful spirit. 

8. A Pleasing Memory. The crowds stopped at 
the temple enclosure, but the children followed him 
in ; their shouts died down outside, but the shouting 
children took up a response within. The rulers bade 
him quiet them, but he quoted a familiar proverb to 
show that such enthusiasm was not to be checked at 
all. The voices of the crowd died away, but the 
shouts of the children still echoed in his heart, as they 
assured him plainly that the unspoiled generation 
coming on would know him as Saviour and King. 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY 

THE DAY OF FINAL CONFLICT WITH HIS ENEMIES 

Matt. 21 : 23 to 26 : 6 ; Mark 11 : 19 to 14 : 11 ; 

Luke 20 : ig to 21 : 36 

It was Tuesday, April 4,. one of the busiest days 
of his busy life, in fact, the very busiest, if we may 



I98 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

judge by what is written of it. No complete record 
has ever been made of any day's work, yet we must 
regard this as pretty fully reported. We find more 
than conflict — we find the incident of the widow's 
mite, the long talk with the disciples as they sat on 
the Mount of Olives, and the black treachery of 
Judas when the night came on. Perhaps the visit 
of the inquiring Greeks was made that day. Since 
the triumphal entry on Sunday, the events are about 
as follows: Sunday night in Bethany; the fig tree 
blighted, Monday, as they went into the city; an 
uneventful day in the city, teaching, unless the visit 
of the Greeks was that day, though we shall regard 
it as having been on Tuesday; retirement to Beth- 
any, Monday night; return to the city, Tuesday 
morning, the disciples noticing, with surprise, that 
the fig tree had withered to its roots, and receiving 
in reply, some striking instructions from Jesus 
about faith and prayer and forgiveness. Following 
him through the day, we see him in five different re- 
lationships, to his enemies, to the poor widow, to 
the Greeks, to the disciples, to Judas. 

I. His Enemies. 

1. The Irrepressible Conflict. Conflict with 
them was inevitable. They were in a pitiable plight 
and had to do something desperate. They had 
plotted and made threats : now they must make good. 
Despite the change of feeling at the triumphal en- 
try, he was still something of a popular idol, over- 
shadowing them: they must get him out of their 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY 1 99 

way. The mind of the masses was ready for a revo- 
lutionary reaction against Rome, and, from his 
boldness in defying his own nation's officials, he 
was capable of working up a fanatical movement of 
tremendous power, which would break the nation's 
peace and the Pharisees' influence: they must get 
him out of the way. These three considerations 
bring them out in an attack on him. To be sure, he 
had refused on Sunday to accept that office of lead- 
ership, and had given the people an irritating dis- 
appointment, yet his continued deeds of power, as in 
blighting the fig tree, healing people in the temple 
and cleansing the temple, the second time, of its 
avaricious and sacrilegious traders, was indication 
of a purpose that might be dangerous. 

2. Their Definite Aim. Their ultimate single 
purpose was to get him put to death. In order to do 
that their immediate double purpose was to get him 
to say something on which their own Sanhedrin or 
council could sentence him and get the approval of 
the Roman governor, and to discredit him with the 
people, so that they would not offer violent resist- 
ance. Rome allowed her provinces local self-gov- 
ernment, to the extent of inflicting severe penalties, 
but not the death penalty. The officials must have 
the sanction of Rome and must not arouse a popular 
opposition in putting him to death. To-day they 
have resolved to show him up and bring the scorn 
of the people on him, while they entrap him into 
some criminal utterance. It must be done at once. 



200 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

3. Their Plan of Attack. They are united — all 
the warring factions of the Jews — Pharisees, with 
their various representatives, scribes, lawyers, and 
priests ; Sadducees, with their priests and their 
scornful leaders; Herodians, the disputatious time- 
servers who were always supporting the reigning 
power. They were united for once. They work 
out a programme and appoint their most skilful dis- 
putants to lead the attack. They have decided on 
the questions on which they will impale him. Those 
questions will take advantage of his simplicity and 
make him appear ridiculous to his former admirers, 
and, if possible, make them think he had betrayed 
them. Now for the attack. 

(1) A General Challenge of His Authority as a 
Rabbi and a Worker of Miracles. The chief priests, 
scribes, and elders asked this question. It implied 
that he must have authority from the council, and 
they hoped he would speak so irreverently about that 
revered body as to horrify the people and be open 
to the charge of blasphemy. He does not " de- 
scend to the battle-ground on which they wish to 
engage him," but puts them on the defensive with 
a question about John's ministry, as symbolized by 
his baptism. Their dilemma was that if they said it 
was from heaven they would indorse Jesus, whom 
John preached, and confess that they did wrong 
in not receiving John and Jesus too ; if they said 
it was not from heaven, they would be at once con- 
demned by the people, for the populace admired 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY 



John. They not only were confused : they lied. And 
the people saw both the confusion and the lie. So 
far the whip was in his hand. They answered their 
own question and were forced to confess indirectly 
that Jesus had his authority from heaven. 

That is not enough. They need severe treatment, 
and he gives it to them in three parables. In the 
parable of the Two Sons he teaches them that they 
were worse than the publican and harlots, for they 
had claimed to do God's will but had never done so, 
while the unfortunates had always refused to do his 
will, but were now pressing into the kingdom. 
Theirs was the sin of insincerity. The parable of 
the Householder and his Husbandmen discloses their 
brutal unfaithfulness to " covenanted duty " in the 
interests God had committed to their hands. For 
they had refused to yield him fruits of righteousness, 
had rejected and slain his prophets, and now were 
trying to kill the well-beloved Son. The third was 
the parable of the Marriage Feast, and it shows their 
" contempt for God's grace." They were like the 
people in the parable invited to a wedding-feast. 
There was first an invitation, which was accepted, 
then a notification that all was ready, which was 
neglected, then another invitation through other 
servants, who commended the feast by telling them of 
the menu. In the several invitations we find benevo- 
lence, forethought, authority, patience. In the re- 
fusal, we find lying, rebellion, indifference. They 
would justly suffer loss and punishment. Some car- 



202 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

ried their insolence so far as to insult the occasion by 
appearing without a suitable garment. 

He drew the picture of those Pharisees to the life, 
and they were themselves discredited with the peo- 
ple. Long before he was through they saw his pur- 
pose, and in their impotent rage would have taken 
him by violence, but were afraid the multitude might 
mob them. 

(2) Then, Strangely Enough, the Herodians 
Join the Pharisees in an Attempt to Catch Him with 
a Question About Paying Tribute to Caesar. To all, 
their taxation was a burden. Nothing could dis- 
credit him so much with the people as a word ap- 
proving the Roman taxes : nothing will sound so 
treasonable to Rome as a word against taxes. He 
is in a dilemma. Yet his reply is so adroit as to be 
simplicity itself. It sounds the deepest notes of 
duty to the State and to God. And yet it has taken 
men a long time to discover its profound meanings. 
Many of them must have thought he had evaded an 
issue; some called him cowardly and unpatriotic, 
and were ready to crucify him a few days later. 
But he silenced the debate. 

(3) The Sadducees, Who Made Claims of Su- 
perior Culture and Refinement, Now Take Their 
Turn. Their purpose is to discredit a doctrine dear 
to Pharisees, and yet they are supported in the 
question by the Pharisees — the doctrine of the resur- 
rection. Their question was about the woman who 
married seven brothers in succession. His reply 



TWENTY-SECOND DAY 203 

showed their insincerity, since they did not believe 
in the resurrection at all ; it showed their ignorance, 
for the Scriptures taught continued existence; it 
showed their lack of refined imagination, since any 
one should know that relations based on physical 
organization pass away with the life of the flesh. 

(4) Now Comes an Attack from a Lawyer, who 
is, of course, a Pharisee, but is a professional ex- 
pounder of the Mosaic and rabbinical laws. 

He and all the Jews had the laws classified, some 
great and some small. It was both an academic 
and an ethical question, which was the greatest 
commandment. After saying that all the laws are 
summed up in the two — to love God supremely and 
love men as one's self — he turns the attack on them, 
and delivers a philippic against them that almost 
drives them insane. He first showed their ignorance 
of the Messiah, their presumption and disobedience 
to God's law, overbearing cruelty to their poor 
dupes, and pretense to piety and authority. The 
woes pronounced on them in Matthew 23 almost 
make us shudder. Yet he closes with a loving and 
heart-broken lament over cruel and heedless and 
doomed Jerusalem. They, and not Jesus, had been 
humiliated before the people. 

II. The Poor Widow. 

He turned down one of the colonnades into the 
court of the women, and saw this widow putting 
her all into the stationary collection box. He saw 
the motive and the sacrifice involved, and appraised 



204 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

the gift more highly than the larger offerings of the 
rich. She kept all the law in keeping the two com- 
mandments to love God supremely and men as one's 
self. This was like a refreshing breeze to the 
suffocating heart of Jesus. 

III. The Inquiry of the Greeks. 

They were proselytes to the Jewish faith and 
wanted to learn from Jesus in person if he were the 
Jews' Messiah. It was a comfort to him to know 
that not all were like these officials, that the Gentiles 
would some day embrace him as Saviour and that he 
would reign over them. This is the beginning of 
that glorification which he will have when the na- 
tions shall call him Master. But his joy is tempered 
by the thought that he must die in order to win 
them, and that they must die to the world in order 
to be his living, loving disciples. He must be true 
to them and tell them so. 

IV. The Disciples. 

He has a long, impressive talk with them as they 
sit on the Mount of Olives, on their way over to 
Bethany that evening. They spoke of the beautiful 
masonry of the temple as they left the city, but he 
told them it would be thrown down. They asked 
him when and he told them, not when it should be, 
but how to be ready for it, in a parable about ten 
young women invited to a wedding-feast, of whom 
five took precautions to be ready for any emer- 
gency, while five failed to do so and failed to enjoy 
the occasion. They are ready for anything only by 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY 205 

being ready for everything; they are ready at one 
time only by being ready all the time. Then he 
taught them fidelity to opportunity by the parable of 
men who had money to take care of. Each had just 
what he could use : the faithful were rewarded, the 
faithless were punished. By a picture he discloses 
the judgment scene, and warns them that the de- 
cisions there will depend on their attitude toward 
him here, as that attitude is shown in their treatment 
of his people here. 

V. Judas' Plot. 

The leaders called a meeting of the council that 
night, and resolved that it would be necessary to 
wait till the pilgrims left the city before they could 
safely arrest Jesus. But that very night, or not 
many hours thereafter, Judas came with a proposi- 
tion to deliver him into their hands. It was good 
news to them. The bargain was made. Judas was 
going to get all he could out of the wreck — thirty 
pieces of silver. 

What a day was that Tuesday! 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS FORETASTE OF DEATH 

Matt. 26 : 17-46; Luke 22 : 7-46; Mark 14 : 12-42; 

John 13 : 1 to 18 : 1 

It was Thursday, and it was a day of farewell to 
friends and foretaste of death. We think of what 



206 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

took place in Bethany, in the upper room, and in 
Gethsemane that day. 

1. In Bethany. Thither he had gone Tuesday 
night, after the exciting controversies in the temple 
and the long talk with the disciples on Mt. Olivet 
about the solemn, tragical future. There, with his 
dear friends, he stayed through Wednesday and 
until Thursday afternoon, when he came into the 
city to celebrate the Passover with his disciples and 
to meet his death. How he spent that quiet day we 
know not, but we do know he enjoyed the sym- 
pathetic atmosphere of that lovely home, and we 
can well believe that Mary, at least, was constantly 
thinking of the coming tragedy, with confused, 
anxious mind, yet with a loyal, trusting heart. He 
must have talked much with them and imparted to 
all some truths that would come to their aid in the 
bewildering sorrow that was soon to fall on them. 
In his farewells at Bethany there was a tense feeling, 
but no formal leave-taking, we can easily think. 
Quietly and informally he bade them adieu to go 
into Jerusalem for the Passover supper. All felt 
it. It was part of the agony of his foretaste of 
deatH. 

2. In the Upper Chamber, (i) Preparations 
for the Passover. As a loyal Jew he would observe 
this Passover. As the head of a company he would 
be responsible for it, even as a father for his family. 
This is the nucleus of a new spiritual family and he 
is its head. 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY 207 

He has shown his usual forethought in arranging 
for it in advance, and arranging so discreetly as not 
to attract the attention of the public or expose him- 
self to Judas' nervous haste to deliver him up. He 
knows the situation perfectly and acts wisely. Jeru- 
salemites knew that their visiting brethren must have 
room in which they could gather as families or 
groups, and were ready to accommodate them with 
generous hospitality. Jesus wisely arranged with a 
friend beforehand for a room and, just as wisely, 
kept it to himself. The friend is thought by many 
to have been the father of Mark, because, after the 
resurrection, the disciples continued to meet in an 
upper room, presumably this one, and Mary, Mark's 
mother, made her home a Christian headquarters. 
Then when the time came to arrange for the 
supper, he still observed secrecy by sending only 
two, Peter and John, and not even telling them 
where to go, but giving them a clue which they could 
follow. He and his friend had agreed on that 
method of doing it, or he knew what the friend 
would be doing. Women usually carried the water, 
and a man doing so would be a strange-enough 
sight to attract their attention. The two found the 
place, secured the lamb, and had it passed on and 
slain by the priests, secured the bread, wine, and bit- 
ter herbs, arranged the table and had everything 
ready for the supper, which was eaten between 
three and six. Thus his secrecy prevented popular 
excitement — for they were watching for him; se- 



208 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

cured perfect arrangements, for Peter and John had 
nothing to make them nervous while preparing; 
kept Judas from precipitating the crisis, for having 
already arranged to deliver him up, he might, 
through dread of delay or eagerness for his pay, 
bring the officers upon Jesus too soon ; had quietude 
for his own paschal thought, for he knew that he was 
the real Passover lamb, of which the one they would 
eat was but a type. He and the ten arrived and 
found all things ready in the large upper room, 
reached by outside steps and wholly free from 
interruption. 

(2) The Lesson in Humility. The disciples came 
there in an ugly mood and had to be taught. One 
thought was in their mind — his splendid kingdom; 
one ambition mastered them — to have conspicuous 
places in that kingdom. Some days before, the 
mother of James and John had stirred them all up by 
asking the two highest places for her sons. That 
passion for preeminence is again aroused at sight 
of the table. In the scramble for the best places at 
the horseshoe table, around which they reclined on 
their left arms with feet stretched out from the cen- 
ter, John was in front of Jesus, reclining on his 
bosom, we might say, and Judas just behind him, 
while Peter was across on the opposite side. 

Their love of preeminence was also shown in an 
unwillingness to wash each other's feet. Wearing 
only sandals, the dusty feet needed bathing and hosts 
always provided a basin of water and towel. Peter 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY 209 

and John provided them, but no one wanted to 
render the service, though they were probably in the 
habit of washing each other's feet. They were in a 
bad mood and must be taught better. Jesus does it 
by instruction and example, and he does it because 
of his intense, unfailing love for his own and their 
great need. His instruction was that the law of life 
is service; his example illustrated that law, for he 
himself washed their feet, much to their shame. But 
they learned the lesson of lowly service in his name. 

(3) The Last Passover Supper. It was the ten- 
derest, most pathetic Passover he had ever attended. 
He had a vivid sense of its historic significance, of 
its relation to himself and of the fellowship which it 
afforded with his spiritual family. 

(4) The Traitor Identified. It may be assumed 
that Judas thought Jesus ignorant of his plot, and 
Jesus thought it best to inform him that he knew. 
He wants only the faithful with him for the new 
supper he was to originate, for the confidential talk 
and the loving prayer to follow. He wants an un- 
broken fellowship for a while. He begins by stating 
that one of them should betray him: that would 
lead to wholesome self-examination. Then each 
asks the question, "Is it I?" and Judas asks it to 
throw off suspicion. That enables Jesus to whisper 
to him the truth, as he had confessed it to John, just 
in front of him. When Judas left, Jesus said a word 
to him that must have stung, though the disciples 
did not understand it. He felt happy relief, 

o 



2IO THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

and from that time he and they had an exalted 
experience. 

(5) The First Lord's Supper. With the wine, and 
the bread a new ordinance is instituted. By it they 
are to remember their deliverance, not from Egypt, 
but from their sins; not by means of the paschal 
lamb, but of " the Lamb of God," even himself ; 
not to remember each other, but him ; to show forth, 
not so much his life as his death. The broken body 
and shed blood symbolize his power to purify and 
invigorate. The Supper has no magical power, but 
it has power to set forth truth, exalt the memory 
and stir the aspirations. A new epoch is coming 
and he gives them a token of a new covenant of 
grace with them. 

(6) The Comforting Talk. In that talk he seeks 
to prepare them for their trial by disclosing the ties 
that bound them to him and to each other — vital 
ties, that nothing could dissolve. He assured them 
that their separation would be short, that they 
could ask his Father for what they should need, just 
as they were in the habit of asking him; that the 
Spirit would abide with them, to teach, protect, 
comfort; that they would have joy in him and be 
very useful to the Father. 

(7) The Uplifting Prayer. He prayed tenderly 
that they might have life, protection from evil, suc- 
cess in their warfare ; that they might be kept by his 
word, be unified, lead the world to believe on him at 
last, be with him, to behold and enjoy his glory. 



TWENTY-THIRD DAY 



The prayer was a protecting shield thrown over 
them. It was an exalted occasion. But before the 
end he had to tell Peter of his coming denial. 

3. In Gethsemane. ( 1 ) Seeking a Place for Pri- 
vate Prayer. From that upper room he went out of 
the city, through St. Stephen's gate, into an olive 
garden, across the brook Kedron. It was called 
Gethsemane, which meant olive presses, because olive 
presses were there. He had often sat and talked 
with friends under those trees in true Oriental 
fashion, and now he comes there for private prayer, 
as he feels the terrible agony coming on, and also to 
meet his fate, for he knew Judas would expect to 
find him there. 

(2) The Azvful Agony. It was all the more in- 
tense for the joy he had felt in the upper room with 
the disciples. As long as he could be preparing and 
protecting them his mind was partly kept away from 
himself, but now he has nothing to do except to 
wait for the betrayal and arrest. The agony that 
swept over him was greater than any he had ever 
felt before. It was an anticipation of what he was 
to suffer on the cross the next day, plus one other 
element, the element of a furious and awful tempta- 
tion to avoid the cross. At the beginning of his 
ministry the devil sought to induce him to accom- 
plish his purpose in the world by avoiding the cross ; 
now that temptation comes back, at the moment 
when he can do no more and only waits, facing the 
cross. Matthew says he was " sorrowful and sore 



THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



troubled," and Jesus himself says " my soul is ex- 
ceeding sorrowful, even unto death." 

It was not the mere physical suffering that he was 
dreading: sensitive saints have welcomed horrible 
death with untroubled joy. Nor was it the prospect 
of the degrading death of the cross : Romans cruci- 
fied only slaves and criminals. Jewish law pro- 
nounced a curse on him who hung on a tree. What 
he dreaded was not the physical death. He had been 
calling that " sleep," and had sought to have his dis- 
ciples call it the same, and he reserved the word 
" death " for something that the soul experiences 
when it is separated from God, the source of its life. 
He does not call his coming experience " sleep," 
but that awful thing " death." Nothing more ter- 
rible is possible or conceivable. To-morrow his 
body will fall asleep on the cross, and that he dreads 
not ; to-morrow his soul will taste of death, and that 
almost kills him as he now has a foretaste of it. 

An absolutely sinless soul is to suffer for sin, and 
he is to be regarded as sin itself. He suffers for 
humanity, for he was so connected with them as to 
take their woes and wickedness on himself. Now, 
as he enters that garden, he gets a taste of the com- 
ing death, and meets the fiercest temptation that has 
ever yet assailed him. 

(3) The Victory. He sought some relief in the 
sympathy of his disciples, but they went to sleep. 
There was one passion in his soul stronger than 
dread of that death, the passion for doing his 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY 213 

Father's will. That came to his aid and he recovered 
command of himself. He accepted his Father's ar- 
rangement and looked death squarely in the face. 
Then he grew calm. He had won the victory. From 
this time he is free from the temptation to evade 
death and can devote his soul to the struggle with 
death itself. 

In this new self-command his majesty shines out 
as it never did before. His rapt and heavenly look 
awed his enemies when they came to arrest him. 
Now he is ready. He calmly wakes the sleeping dis- 
ciples, comes forward to meet his captors and pre- 
serves his self-possession to the end. 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS DEATH 

Matt. 26 : 47 to 27 : 66 ; Mark 14 : 43 to ij : 47 ; 
Luke 22 : 47 to 23 : 56 ; John 18 : 2 to 19 : 42 

I. The Betrayal. The betrayal took place sev- 
eral days before, but was consummated a little after 
midnight, in the early hours of Friday, April 7, 
a. d. 30, according to our method of reckoning. In 
that act, Judas consummated the villainy of the ages, 
and is therefore credited by mankind with the basest 
nature known among men. He did not simply 
desert a cause that he could not appreciate, but he 
secured the death of its leader for a money consid- 
eration. He did that, after being honored with a 



214 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

place in Christ's inner circle, and with the intimate 
and confidential friendship of Christ; after being 
taught the sublimest truths and ideals that ever were 
uttered by human lips, and given the most beautiful 
and fascinating example of goodness the world has 
ever seen. He took advantage of unselfish goodness 
to betray him. 

His motive was complex. It was chiefly avarice, 
for he was by nature a lover of money and had 
been feeding that love of money by handling the 
common funds and stealing from the bag. There 
were minor motives, reinforcing his master pas- 
sion — ambition for power, which had been dis- 
appointed, but might now find gratification, as he 
associated himself with the nation's leaders in 
their policy of getting rid of this dangerous 
enthusiast; revenge for the disappointment and 
humiliation Jesus had given him. He had at 
first become a disciple with some fairly good 
sentiments and with great ability. In fact, his Mes- 
sianic ideals were about the same as those of the 
others, to begin with. But as the others grew to- 
ward Jesus, he grew away from him; they grew 
better, he worse. If he had been " born again," as 
he was at one time capable of, he would have been 
very useful, with his abilities, for he would have 
had another passion strong enough to keep love 
of money and ambition for power in a subordinate 
place, and there would have been no revenge to 
gratify. 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY 215 

He steadily grew in evil. He was disappointed in 
the character and mission of Jesus, while the others 
were disappointed in his mission, though not in his 
character. The death of John the Baptist chilled 
his hopes; the refusal of Jesus to accept temporal 
power irritated him; the enmity of the Jewish 
leaders made him wince; the disclosure of the com- 
ing cross and shame maddened him with what he 
thought its fanatical self-immolation; the knowl- 
edge that Christ was aware of his treacherous na- 
ture made him vindictive. His moral alienation 
from Jesus was complete and he was Satan's tool. 
He is no longer Dr. Jekyll, with the possibilities of 
a Mr. Hyde ; he is Mr. Hyde himself forevermore. 

The method by which Judas accomplished his 
perfidy was diabolical beyond description. Stalker 
points out that he profaned the Passover, invaded 
the sanctuary of his Master's devotions, and de- 
based the sign of affection and discipleship in identi- 
fying his Master, for he kissed Jesus frequently 
and fervently, as if in affection, and was called 
" friend " by Jesus while doing so. 

2. The Arrest. It was made late at night, with 
the hope that they might find Jesus asleep, and 
through fear of arousing popular opposition if they 
attempted it in the daylight. They also hoped to 
have him arrested, condemned, and ready for punish- 
ment at once, and thereby throw his friends into a 
panic before they had time to think. 

The arrest was made by a band of Roman sol- 



2l6 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

diers, the temple police, and some high officials, all 
led by Judas. They were surprised that he came 
forward and gave himself up, for they had lanterns 
and weapons, to secure him if he sought to escape. 
They were more surprised at his calm bearing, were 
overawed by his majesty, and the soldiers fell to the 
ground in fright and confusion. They had never 
seen a real, complete man before. The rapture of 
his victory in the garden was in his face. He al- 
most arrested himself. He seemed to aim, just then, 
at two things — to protect his disciples and to im- 
press his enemies, so that they could be saved from 
sin some day. He complained that they did not ar- 
rest him openly; he restored the ear of the high 
priest's servant, which Peter had cut off in foolishly 
trying to defend Jesus! He diverted the attention 
of his captors from his panic-stricken flock and saw 
them all flee in terror and yet in safety. 

3. The Jewish Trial. There were two trials — 
by the Jewish governing body and by the Roman 
governor. The former would have been sufficient 
if they had not demanded the death penalty. Rome 
allowed her provinces to enforce their own laws in 
most cases, save in inflicting the death penalty. 

There were three stages of the Jewish trial. 

(1) Before Annas. He was the ex-high priest, but 
was the head of the Sadducean sect and of the reign- 
ing dynasty of high priests, we might say, and would 
be called a " boss " to-day. He had held the office 
and had five sons and now his son-in-law in that 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY 21 J 

exalted position. Though seventy years old, he was 
astute and autocratic. He kept awake that night 
to conduct the first informal examination of Jesus. 
He and Caiaphas had rooms in the high-priestly 
palace, a house built out flush with the street and 
opening on an inner court, entered through an arch, 
with a large gate and a smaller wicket gate. In 
the court the soldiers made a fire while the trial 
went on. 

(2) Before Caiaphas. Annas could not formulate 
a charge, though they insulted Jesus and then took 
him to the room of Caiaphas in the same building, 
and some of the council informally assembled. They 
quoted what he said about destroying the temple 
and tried to prove blasphemy, but broke down. Then 
Caiaphas put him on oath, and he confessed that he 
was Son of God. That enabled them at last to 
charge him with blasphemy. Then followed a scene 
that was a disgrace to human nature. They spent 
the time till daylight insulting him by spitting 
on him, striking him, blindfolding him and mak- 
ing sport of his prophetic claims by asking who 
struck him. 

(3) Before Caiaphas and the Regular Council. 
The council could not take legal action till after 
daylight, and their former trials were to prepare a 
decision that could be hastily affirmed by the council 
in regular session. At a legal hour he was again 
asked if he were the Son of God, and then formal 
sentence of death was passed. Though the council 



2l8 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

was legally assembled, its findings were illegal. They 
did not seek the truth — they sought a pretext for 
condemning him. 

4. The Roman Trial. This also had three stages, 
as we shall see — before Pilate, before Herod, and be- 
fore Pilate again. 

(1) Before Pilate. Pilate was a typical Roman 
official, selfish, with a high regard for " the sys- 
tem " on which he was dependent, though with some 
rudimentary sense of justice. The deepest passion 
of his nature was the passion for place, and subor- 
dinate to that were all his other, more or less good, 
qualities. 

When they called on him that morning he was in 
a bad humor. It made him mad to be called so 
early ; to be compelled to come out to them, instead 
of receiving them in his court, for they refused to 
come in to him on the ground that they would be 
defiled by going into a Gentile's house on the feast 
day; to be ordered to confirm their death sentence 
without examination of it, and even without being 
told the charge on which they had done it. He 
hated them and they hated him. He knew that 
Jesus was innocent and that they were actuated by 
utter viciousness. When they said they had charge 
enough, he told them to go on then and inflict the 
punishment their law allowed. Then they made a 
threefold charge — that he perverted the nation, for- 
bade paying taxes, and set himself up as a king. 
Pilate was compelled to notice it, and after a private 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY 2IO, 

examination of Jesus, saw he was not guilty. But 
when he sought to release him he was met with an 
outcry that this man was stirring up people all over 
Judea and Galilee. The word " Galilee " suggested 
a way out of Pilate's dilemma. Herod was ruler 
of Galilee and happened to be in the city that very 
day. Pilate will get Herod to pass on the case. 

(2) Before Herod. Herod was glad at last to 
meet him, and hoped to see him perform some 
miracle. He had gone the whole round of wicked- 
ness and now wanted a fresh sensation. But Jesus 
would not gratify a vicious taste nor say a word to 
the unrepentant murderer of his friend, John. 
Jesus' silence enraged him, and he allowed his sol- 
diers to insult him with mockery and by putting on 
him an old cast-off gorgeous robe and leading him 
back to Pilate, in that garb. 

(3) Before Pilate Again. The issue was now 
joined. Pilate should have then released him, and 
he really determined to do so, at any cost, save one, 
peril to his office. They can charge him at Rome 
with harboring a rival to Caesar and can get him 
dismissed. Pilate cannot risk such a calamity. He 
made several attempts to release Jesus. First, he 
offered to make him the criminal to be released at 
the annual feast, thus stamping him as a criminal, 
which he had no right to do. But they strangely de- 
manded the release of Barabbas, a man who had 
really led an insurrection against Rome, the very 
thing they wanted Pilate to condemn Jesus for. 



THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



Next he appealed to their sympathy, by having him 
scourged, which was a horrible outrage on justice, 
and thinking his pitiful appearance would satisfy 
their thirst for blood ; but it only excited a bloodier 
thirst, as Jesus stood bleeding, clad in mock purple, 
carrying a reed and wearing the crown of thorns, 
which the soldiers had made from a bush growing 
in the court and twisted into a sort of crown. This 
was the horse-play of the soldiers, with a would-be 
king. It was a diversion for their amusement of 
which they little recked the hidden meaning. When 
they grew fiercer still, Pilate had another private in- 
terview with him, and when threatened by the mob 
he consented to his death, dramatically washing his 
hands of the whole matter, as if he could make a 
decision and escape the consequences of it. 

5. " Via Doloroso." The wild procession moved 
out the Damascus gate at the northwest corner of 
the city — priests and leaders, soldiers, the doomed 
men, the mob, and a few mourners. Two incidents 
are preserved — Simon of Cyrene compelled to take 
the heavy cross from the fainting Christ and thus 
relieve him for more suffering; the mourning 
daughters of Jerusalem, to whom he spoke solemn 
warning. 

6. Pilate's Tardy Revenge. He poured vitriol 
on the Jews by inscribing on Christ's cross " The 
King of the Jews," implying that the whole nation 
was dishonored in the dishonorable death of their 
king and by his crucifixion with robbers. They 



TWENTY-FOURTH DAY 221 

felt the insult. They had their way about the mur- 
der; he had his, about these petty insults. 

7. Witnesses. Doctor Stalker divides them into 
three groups, which he characterizes by three words 
— apathy, the stupid insensibility of the soldiers; 
antipathy, the hatred of the officials and of the rob- 
ber at his side, who had descended to brutal abuse 
of the meek sufferer; sympathy, which describes 
John, the women, and a few whose hearts were 
touched. Where were the disciples? Only John 
was with him. Judas had killed himself in remorse. 
Peter had watched the trial from the court of the 
priests' palace with breaking heart, and was now 
alone somewhere. The others — scattered. 

8. Seven Sayings on the Cross. They show self- 
command, unselfishness, desire to save others, sense 
of suffering. Those sayings came probably in this 
order : " Father, forgive them " ; " behold thy son " 
and " behold thy mother " ; " to-day thou shalt be 
with me in paradise " ; "I thirst " ; " My God, my 
God, why hast thou forsaken me ! " " it is finished " ; 
" Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 

In his bearing on the cross he stood out in sub- 
lime contrast with his enemies. That was victory. 

9. The End. It was the same day, an unheard-of 
thing, for the crucified usually lived several days. It 
was therefore voluntary — he laid down his life. It 
was the falling asleep of his body after a taste of 
death for every man — that death of which he had 
had a foretaste in Gethsemane. A hush came over 



222 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

the people and many thought a great crime had been 
committed. The tragedy of all time had been 
enacted. 

10. His Burial. He was buried by two secret dis- 
ciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, in a new tomb be- 
longing to one of them. Only the faithful women — 
none of the apostles save possibly John — saw where 
he was laid. They thought they had lost him, but 
they still loved and trusted him. They were dazed 
and could not explain the mystery of it. It is mid- 
night in their souls, but the day will dawn again. 



V 
RESURRECTION PERIOD 

Sunday, April 9 to May 19. 

160. Resurrection and manifestations. Matt. 28 : 1-20 

Mark 16 : I-18 ; Luke 24 : 1-49 ; John 20, 21 : 
Acts 1:3-8; 1 Cor. 15 : 5-8. 

161. His ascension. Mark 16 : 19, 20; Luke 24 : 50-53; 

Acts I : 9-12. 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS RESURRECTION 

Matt. 28 : 1-20 ; Mark 16 : 1-18 ; Luke 24 : 1-49; 

John 20, 21 ; Acts 1 : I-J ; 1 Cor. 15 : 1-8 

It was Sunday morning, April 9, a. d. 30. Not a 
soul on earth was expecting his resurrection. He 
had said he would rise again, but the disciples to 
whom he said it never dreamed that he meant ex- 
actly what he said. They had their own method 
of explaining his strange words. His enemies, 
whose ears the words had reached, did not imagine 
that such a thing was possible, but their acute and 
nervous suspicions prompted the fear that his dis- 
ciples would steal his body away and claim that he 
had risen. They little knew the hopelessness of that 
stricken group. That we may understand the mean- 
ing and reality of his resurrection we will take a 
backward glance — at his death and burial. 

I. The Reality of His Death. 

There was not a man or woman who knew of the 
crucifixion, but believed him to be dead. Joseph 
and Nicodemus could never have anointed his body, 
bound it in linen cloth, put it in the tomb and closed 
the door with a huge stone, if they had not thought 
him dead, for they were careful, judicial men in 
reaching an opinion, and they then cherished a 
p 225 



226 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

deathless devotion to him. The priests were per- 
fectly satisfied that he had died, but were afraid 
his disciples would attempt to recover the body and 
claim that he had risen. Pilate had no doubt of his 
death, for he knew of the rigors that swept over him 
and the thrust of the spear into his side. He could 
not have encouraged a mock burial. The soldiers 
saw the body grow rigid in death and they knew 
what it meant, but to make assurance doubly sure, 
they gave him a deadly thrust, to the very heart. 
The disciples not only knew he was dead, but, after 
his resurrection, required the most complete proof 
that he was alive again. In no word or tone did any 
of the disciples afterward ever teach or hint that his 
life on earth after his crucifixion was anything less 
than a life from the dead. If he had not died, he 
could not have made such prophecies concerning 
his death, the accounts we have of his life could not 
have been written, the present structure of the Scrip- 
tures would have been impossible, the Jewish ritual- 
istic worship could never have been devised, the or- 
dinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper would 
be a grotesque farce, and men would never have had 
those Christian experiences which have given an ele- 
ment of the divine to human life. If we know any- 
thing, we know that Jesus died. 

II. The Security of His Interment. 

Friends and enemies were interested in making 
his burial secure — his friends, fearing that those who 
had wreaked on him such vindictive violence in his 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY 227 

life, might pursue his body into the grave; his ene- 
mies, suspecting that his disciples wanted to steal 
his body and claim that he had risen. If a grave 
could ever be made secure, that grave was, with 
the stone, too heavy for one man to roll away from 
the opening in the side of the cliff; with the legal 
seal, a cord stretched across the stone and the ends 
sealed to the walls, which one could break only at 
the peril of his life ; with the Roman guard who well 
understood that their own lives would be the forfeit 
for his escape. We know his interment was secure. 
The eclipse seemed total and abiding. 

III. The Reality of His Resurrection. 

It is established by such a variety of proof that 
Keim says " the resurrection of Jesus must be taken 
as an historical fact," and Westcott writes, " Taking 
all the evidence together, it is not too much to say 
that there is no single historic incident better or 
more variously supported than the resurrection of 
Christ." 

And yet, in every age, the fact has been disputed. 
The attempts to disprove it, however, have always 
brought out a worthy defense that has confirmed the 
followers of Christ in their convictions. We are not 
surprised that judicial minds have found delight in 
weighing the evidence and that some of our im- 
portant treatises on the subject have come from 
lawyers, as the works of Greenleaf and Morrison, for 
example. The doctrine has been attacked with three 
different arguments, and we may well take a glance 



228 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

at those arguments, to note their animus and their 
fallacy. 

i. The Charge of Imposture. That charge was 
first made by his enemies, although they knew that 
the disciples had not stolen away his body and could 
not have done it. It came out of the same hatred 
that put him to death and was invented in order to 
keep the people from believing in him. It was in- 
vented by desperate men who heard he had risen. 
In modern times the argument has been repeated, in 
the face of an added difficulty, namely, the marvel- 
ous results of the resurrection, results which could 
not have come from an imposture. The transforma- 
tions wrought within forty days are conclusive proof 
that the resurrection was a fact. In forty days after 
that Sunday morning, April 9, every disciple was 
telling it abroad that Jesus of Nazareth, who was 
known to have been put to death, had risen. They 
were telling it fearlessly, joyously, lovingly, in a 
way that would have been impossible to mere 
impostors. 

The invention of such a story by them was a 
psychological impossibility. Had they been able to 
remove the body, while sealed and guarded, which 
they could never have done, they might have in- 
vented the story that it had been carried to heaven, 
but could not have invented the resurrection story. 
The idea of his resurrection never entered their 
minds till after the event itself, and even then not 
till it was forced upon them by the open grave, the 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY 229 

words of the angels, and the actual sight of the risen 
Lord. Their hopelessness was so complete and 
crushing that they could never have imagined such 
a thing, much less have hypnotized themselves into 
the most radiant and contagious joy known to mor- 
tals. Only the resurrection itself was able to pro- 
duce such a transformation in them. 

There could have been no adequate motive for 
such an imposture. They made that fact the very 
heart of their message to mankind and thereby sub- 
jected themselves to scorn, ridicule, hatred, perse- 
cution, imprisonment, torture and, in many cases, 
death itself. In preaching that doctrine they lived 
their lives on the lofty resurrection level, and that 
would have been impossible had the basis of those 
lives been a lie and a sham. They exhibited the 
rarest and tenderest altruism that had ever been 
known among men, save in the one instance of 
Jesus himself, yet the theory of imposture credits 
them with leading their followers into unspeakable 
sufferings, just to propagate a lie. The most mar- 
velous ethical movement in history could not have 
came from an imposture. That one fact of the 
resurrection revived their faith, organized their sys- 
tem of truth, inspired their hopes and energies, gave 
a new name and date to the Sabbath Day, raised 
Christianity from its temporary death and started it 
on its career of the conquest of the world with the 
weapons of truth, righteousness, love and self- 
sacrifice. 



23O THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

To summarize: It was physically impossible for 
the apostles to steal the body of Jesus. And even 
if they had done so it would have been psychologi- 
cally impossible for them to invent the resurrection 
theory; to revive and increase their old joys and 
hopes, to live such noble lives as that doctrine in- 
spired, to endure the fiery trials that awaited them, 
to subject their dearest friends to similar experi- 
ences, to be led by that doctrine to preach truths that 
hopelessly condemned them for starting such a doc- 
trine. It was dynamically impossible to build the 
great Christian religion on such a fraud. 

2. The Swoon Theory. It is claimed that Jesus 
swooned on the cross, but afterward revived and 
appeared to the disciples. This theory is disproved 
by the reality of his death, and yet several other facts 
may be cited. Had he only swooned the thrust of the 
spear would have killed him. Then too, his disciples 
would have let out the secret, for they would have 
known the truth in the case. Their writings show 
an unsuspecting belief in his death. Most of all, he 
and his disciples would have been in collusion to 
teach a huge lie, invented by him, for the salvation 
and perfection of men. 

3. The Vision Theory. This claims that Mary 
Magdalene's mind was so filled with him that she 
thought she saw him and told others about it, till 
they thought they saw him also. Then they ex- 
plained it as a resurrection. The disproof of this 
is very easy. First, it is inconceivable that a 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY 23 I 

movement so colossal, so sane, so clear, so noble, so 
infectious, so elevating, should have arisen by acci- 
dent out of the haunting vision of a half-crazed 
woman, and that all human history should be 
changed by a hallucination. 

In the next place, any one could have disproved 
the claim by showing the body of Jesus. Again, the 
time within which the faith and hope of the disciples 
revived was too short, if they were revived by a 
vision. Lastly, it may be said that visions always 
increase in frequency, but in that case, after more 
than five hundred had seen him, the vision ceased 
abruptly and entirely. A modification of this theory 
has been proposed, granting that the disciples did 
actually see Jesus, not with the eye of sense, how- 
ever, but with the eye of the spirit. They felt his 
spiritual presence. In that case there would have 
been no empty tomb, there could have been no con- 
ception of a resurrection, and the Scriptures, as we 
have them, could not have been written. 

4. The Meaning of His Resurrection. Though 
his spirit enjoyed conscious existence during the 
hours of its separation from his body, yet it was 
necessary that that spirit should gather his body 
out of the grave again and enter on the resurrection 
life. 

(1) As the Son of Man and representative of hu- 
manity, he was the first one to realize man's latent 
possibility for continued existence, in his complete 
form, as body and spirit. In the soul of man, guesses 



232 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

and vague yearnings were indicative of such pos- 
sibility, while the rising of the spring-time life out of 
winter's death and the change of chrysalis into the 
higher physical form of the butterfly, are some of 
the hints from nature that our " vile bodies " are 
capable of advance into spiritual and " glorified 
bodies." If that possibility was ever to be realized, 
Christ was to do it. And he did. In doing so, his 
resurrection is the earnest of humanity's " the first 
fruits of them that sleep," so that we now know that, 
if our spirits are like his, our bodies shall be fash- 
ioned in the likeness of " his glorified body." 

(2) As " the Captain of our salvation," he could 
not be a trustworthy leader, till he had won a victory 
in every contest and with the very last enemy. Is 
he able to give up his life and then return to his 
sleeping body, reanimate it, and adapt it to the home 
whence he came, and to which he will take his 
people? Unless he can, he cannot assure their 
resurrection. 

(3) As he had become perfect by a perfect 
growth, in adverse conditions, he cannot complete 
his own life without rising again. The marvels at- 
tending his birth and death required the marvels of 
the resurrection. His character was the marvelous 
thing and displayed itself finally in his resurrection. 
The principle which he brought from the skies, of 
dying in order to live, was perfectly embodied in 
him. The crucifixion found its complement in his 
resurrection. 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY 233 

(4) He completed his earthly task and carried hu- 
man nature back to heaven with him, in his glorified 
risen body. 

5. The Order of His Appearances. It is diffi- 
cult to arrange the order so as to be sure it is cor- 
rect. Putting the four accounts together and bring- 
ing in Paul's statements in I Cor. 15, we have reason 
to believe that he appeared in the following order: 
(1) To Mary Magdalene. She had come to the 
sepulchre with the other women before it was light, 
and reaching there first and seeing it empty had re- 
turned to tell Peter and John that his body had been 
taken away. The two men then sought the sepulchre 
hurriedly and learned from the angels that he had 
risen. As they left, Mary came up, and after looking 
into the empty sepulchre, turned to leave, when she 
met Jesus (John 20 :ii-i8). (2) To the other 
women, who seemed to have remained all this time 
in the vicinity of the tomb. (3) To Peter alone, 
probably that morning (Luke 24 134, and 1 Cor. 
J 5 : 5)- (4) To the two disciples on the way to 
Emmaus that first day, Cleopas and his companion 
(Luke 24 : 13-35). (5) To the apostles in the ab- 
sence of Thomas, that same Sunday evening. (6) 
To the same disciples, in the same place, the next 
Lord's Day, Thomas present. (7) To seven dis- 
ciples beside the Sea of Galilee. (8) To above five 
hundred at once. (9) To James (1 Cor. 15 17). 
( 10) To all of the apostles. (11) To Saul of Tarsus 
some years later, for it was a real appearance. 



234 TR E DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

6. His Stay on Earth for Forty Days After 
His Resurrection. First, he stayed on earth after 
his resurrection long enough to establish his identity 
completely. It required time and patient effort. In 
restoring himself to them he began where the agony 
was acutest, the watchfulness sharpest, and the 
means for spreading the news swiftest — with Mary 
Magdalene first; with the women second; with 
Peter, heartbroken man, third. He said and did 
things in each case just to convince and confirm 
their faith. He called Mary's name with the old 
tones of voice, and made her a messenger to bear the 
news to the others. He bade the women go and re- 
mind his brethren of his appointment to meet them 
in Galilee. He broke bread with the two at the end 
of their sad return to Emmaus. He showed his 
hands and feet to the Eleven to allay their terror, and 
ate with them as of old. He had a private talk with 
Peter some time that day. He had doubting Thomas 
put his fingers in the wounds, so as to convince him 
that he was not a mere spirit. He ate with a few 
disciples on the shore of Galilee one morning. He 
met over five hundred at once and because some of 
them still doubted he gave to them further proofs of 
his identity. In these interviews he called their 
memories, their old devotion, and their holiest pur- 
poses into renewed activity. He did not leave the 
earth till every one was completely and permanently 
convinced. 

He stayed on earth long enough to establish spir- 



TWENTY-FIFTH DAY 235 

itual relations with them, that would more than take 
the place of the old physical relations. He did that 
by showing that nothing could destroy him or his 
love for them ; by calling them to realize anew that 
they were his " brethren," brothers of his soul ; by 
showing that some of his physical limitations were 
removed and that his very body was becoming 
spiritualized. 

He showed a new reserve. He was with them 
only now and then. He came and went mysteriously, 
often through closed doors. He imparted to them 
the Holy Spirit in a larger measure than they had 
ever had before, as he breathed on them and said 
" receive ye the Holy Spirit." They had received 
the Spirit for living; they received him now for 
hoping; at Pentecost they will receive him for 
working. 

He stayed on earth long enough to assign them 
their future work and prepare them for it, by 
promising the final endowment of power by the Holy 
Spirit. He was assigning their tasks as he commis- 
sioned Mary to tell his brethren of his resurrection ; 
as he bade Peter feed his sheep and his lambs ; as he 
gave to the apostles authority to declare the con- 
dition of entrance into his kingdom; as he gave to 
all the commission to go into all the world with the 
story of his death and resurrection. It took forty 
days to prove his resurrection, establish spiritual re- 
lationships with the disciples, and get them ready 
for his departure. But in forty days he was ready. 



236 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY 

THE DAY OF HIS DEPARTURE FROM EARTH 
Luke 24 : jo-jj ; John 20 : 17, 18 ; Acts 1 : 1-12 

I. When He Left. Chronologically his ascen- 
sion was forty days after his resurrection, and that 
would make it May 19, a. d. 30, according to our 
working chronology. Only one of the Gospel writers 
gives any account of the event itself — Luke. In his 
Gospel he describes it briefly — "and he led them 
out until they were over against Bethany and he 
lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came 
to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them 
and was carried up into heaven. And they wor- 
shipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great 
joy." In his later work of " Acts " carrying the his- 
tory thirty years further, he reports parts of the 
conversation between Christ and the disciples, im- 
mediately preceding the event, and the greeting of 
the angels just afterward. John preserves for us 
the words of the risen Jesus to Mary, bidding her 
tell the disciples (20:17) " I ascend unto my Father 
and your Father, and my God and your God." Other 
New Testament writers allude to his departure, and 
some of them give us vivid views of his present 
activities in the skies. 

Logically, it was at the moment when he had the 
minds of the leading disciples prepared for his de- 
parture. That involved at least four phases of 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY 237 

preparation. First, his complete identification to 
them, as the one who was dead and was now alive 
again, was necessary. As no one was expecting 
him to rise again, they all had to be separately con- 
vinced and he took all the time and employed all the 
methods necessary to completely do it. He ap- 
peared to them by ones, twos, tens, and hundreds 
and entered into their lives and experiences until 
they all knew it was the same Jesus who was 
crucified. 

Next, he takes the time and employs the means 
necessary to exalt his spiritual, rather than his phys- 
ical, relations to them. He does this by showing 
that his body is now spiritual and by intimating his 
coming departure. 

He also must chasten their Messianic hopes. They 
awoke out of their gloom to the old dreams of 
power, which they continued to cherish till he left 
them, but they, were now anchored to him rather 
than to those hopes. 

He has prepared them by giving them a new task, 
in evangelizing the world, and exciting their ex- 
pectation of a new power with which they would 
soon be endowed for that task. This fourfold prep- 
aration of the disciples was now complete, as far as 
it could be, till after his departure. 

There are two views of his ascension that may 
be noticed — one, that he dwelt exclusively on earth 
during those forty days and made a literal exit ; the 
other, that he ascended to heaven at once when he 



238 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

rose from the grave, but manifested himself on 
earth, at times, and, finally, at the close of one such 
manifestation, ceased to do so, except in the case of 
Saul of Tarsus, several years later. Whatever be 
the theory held, the fact remains that there came 
a moment when he ceased either to reside, or mani- 
fest himself, on earth, in the old form, and then 
entered on another phase of his work. 

2. Why He Left. (1) He belonged to heaven 
now. It had always been true of him, as President 
Rhees says, " In his moments of greatest serious- 
ness and most manifest communion with heaven he 
looked to God as his nearest of kin and felt himself 
a stranger in the world, fulfilling his Father's will. 
He felt heaven to be his home, not simply by God's 
gracious promise, but by the right of previous pos- 
session. His kinship with men was a condescension ; 
his natural fellowship was with God." Before his 
resurrection he had borne the image of the earthly ; 
now he bears the image of the heavenly. The body 
was already spiritualized, ready to be glorified, and 
heaven, not earth, was his natural habitat. 

(2) He completes himself in returning to the place 
whence he started. He is the complete God-man 
only when he lifts himself as man to the throne of 
God. In the field of human life the God-man has 
filled human nature; in the home of God he must 
find the place of supremacy for his human nature. 
He perfected that nature and met all demands on 
him in all human relationship; he must now exalt 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY 239 

that nature and meet all demands upon it in his di- 
vine relationships, or he has not completed himself 
as the God-man. Can he take humanity, in his own 
person, to the skies and not be compelled to take a 
place subordinate to that of the heavenly hosts ? 
That is the question, and that question is settled 
when he accomplishes the task upon which he started 
and reaches, not heaven alone, but heaven's throne, 
with the nature that he gathered up into himself, 
while on earth. The incarnation is successful, as a 
permanent factor in God's providential care of the 
world, and in his rulership through the ages. He 
can now in his human nature be reinvested with the 
glory of which he had been divested, when he under- 
took the great task. 

(3) He completes the Father's joy, in his return 
to him. That the heart of God had been pierced with 
pain beyond the power of the human mind to 
imagine must be clear to all who read the parable 
of the Prodigal Son, which might well be called, as 
some one has suggested, the parable of The Be- 
reaved Father. That his heart was comforted with 
a great joy on Christ's return we must conclude. He 
could now say to the angels, " That is what I was 
aiming at when I made man and said let us make 
man in our own image." It was the joy of seeing 
human nature at last what he originated it for, and 
of welcoming it to a place by his side. 

(4) His ascension was required, in order to com- 
plete his redemptive work for man. By taking the 



24O THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

nature that had fallen, the nature he had purified 
and perfected in himself, the nature he had promised 
to escort into the mansions he would prepare for it, 
he has given final assurance to others possessing that 
nature, that there is a place for it there, when they 
are made heavenly by him. Having prepared them 
for the place, he will prepare the place for them and, 
by dwelling there himself, will give them proof that 
they too, possessing the same nature, may find hos- 
pitality and home awaiting them. As he repre- 
sented God to them, he will represent them to God. 
As he was God's man, he is now man's God. As he 
was the first-born from the dead, the rest of us can 
sleep in hope. He was the first of the kind to enter 
heaven and the wonder and something of the hom- 
age given him awaits us. Our interests demanded 
his return thither. He is our God. He is our Am- 
bassador. He is our Brother. 

(5) He must ascend to heaven to receive his re- 
wards. For the work done, there is the reward of 
recognition and the reward of the place of admin- 
istration, in which he will take into his hands the 
rulership of the world. His achievement, during the 
thirty years of his absence, was such as to excite the 
wonder and adoration of all the heavenly intelli- 
gences. One promise had been made and he is now 
rewarded with the Holy Spirit to take up the work 
on earth. 

(6) The nature of the next stage of his work here 
below, is such as to require him to carry it on from 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY 24 1 

heaven, for the reasons brought to view in the fore- 
going discussion and for still other reasons. He had 
laid the foundation for a sweeping, radical, world- 
wide work, but had only laid the foundation. It had 
been projected and must now be prosecuted. He is 
still the mighty worker, and is just beginning his 
mission. Luke writes a history of the first thirty 
years following the ascension and he begins it by 
saying that his former treatise on the earthly life 
of Jesus was simply an account of what he " began 
to do," implying that in the story of the " Acts " or 
achievements of the apostles he was about to tell 
what Jesus continued to do. This continued work is 
what requires him to occupy the strategic position, 
as he employs agencies suited to his purpose. That 
strategic position is at headquarters yonder, where 
plans are made, orders are given and power is 
provided. 

The localization of his human nature requires him 
to employ agencies to prosecute his work. The 
agencies he employs must, because of their very 
natures, be the divine Spirit and the human disciple. 
Had he stayed he would have been limited by locality 
and therefore most of the disciples would have been 
ever tantalized with his unenjoyed presence among 
them. Had he stayed, he would have found it diffi- 
cult to establish spiritual, rather than physical, rela- 
tions with them. Had he tried to direct his work 
in his bodily presence on earth, he never could have 
fixed responsibility on them for that work. 
Q 



242 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

It was profoundly true, as he said, " It is ex- 
pedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not away 
the Comforter will not come." From his position in 
the heavens he sustains equal, though personal, rela- 
tions with all. He sends his successor, the Holy 
Spirit, to all. The Spirit makes Christ real to them, 
is not localized nor visualized, and therefore he can 
deal exclusively with their spirits. By completing 
his redemptive work, he furnishes a perfect basis for 
the work of the Spirit in the world and while the 
Spirit is doing more here than Jesus could do, the 
latter is continuing his work there. 

In heaven and from heaven, he is still working, on 
the three lines he was following here. He is still 
prophet, or teacher, whether through the truths 
he spoke in the days of his flesh, or through the 
truths given later. He had said, " I have many 
things to say to you, but ye cannot bear them now : 
nevertheless, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, 
he will guide you into all truth." He is still priest, 
to intercede, and. the writer of the book of Hebrews, 
contrasting him with Jewish priests, says that he 
made the eternal sacrifice of himself, once for all, and 
that, as the Jewish high priest went into the holy 
of holies once every year to intercede, Jesus ever 
lives to make intercession for us. He is still king, 
for he is ruling the earth's destinies from the skies. 
Paul says that he shall reign till he has put all ene- 
mies under his feet and that every knee shall yet bow 
to him and every tongue confess him Lord; while 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY 243 



John, in Revelation, tells us that the kingdoms of the 
world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of 
his Christ, who shall be King of kings and Lord of 
lords. What he was doing here, he is now doing 
there, from a different center and with different 
agencies — teaching, saving, ruling. 

It is expedient for us that he be there, for now 
we have two Comforters or Advocates, instead of 
one, one here and one there. The Greek word is para- 
klete, one called to the side of another to take charge 
of his interests, as a lawyer. Jesus was first para- 
kleted, or called, to our side by our unconscious 
needs. Now he has gone to the throne to look after 
our interests, while " another " has been parakleted 
to our sides, and, once here, he takes up his residence 
within and reproduces Christ within us the hope of 
glory. " Advocate " is a better translation than 
" Comforter," and we have two of them : one here, 
one there. Yes, it was expedient for us that he go 
away. 

When the Spirit had wrought a perfect work in 
producing the earthly Christ and that perfection had 
been displayed in heaven, the Spirit is bestowed on 
him and is sent by him and the Father to carry on 
the work on earth. He is ever the great transformer. 
He had been the divine transforming power in cre- 
ating the worlds, creating the earthly Christ, saving 
and comforting the disciples. Before Jesus left, it 
was the Spirit who gave them life, the Spirit who 
comforted them when they were stricken, and now 



244 THE DISCIPLE AND HIS LORD 

it is the Spirit who will endow them with power for 
the new part they are to take in Christ's programme. 
In the work he had enabled Christ to do, the Spirit 
finds the basis for his further work. His mission on 
earth is, in general, to take Christ's place, to be 
Christ to the disciples, and to continue his three- 
fold work. He makes good Christ's parting promise, 
" lo, I am with you, all the days," for he is the 
other Advocate, Christ's successor. He was, and is, 
Teacher, and the disciples spake and wrote, " as the 
Spirit gave them utterance." He was, and is, In- 
tercessor, for we know not what we should pray 
for, as we ought, " And the Spirit himself maketh 
intercession for us." He was, and is, Ruler, for the 
Spirit not only said to the church at Antioch, " Sep- 
arate me Saul and Barnabas," but has been speaking 
and directing in all the holy enterprises since. He 
has been making good Christ's presence and power 
on earth. 

According to the promise of Christ, the Holy 
Spirit has been doing these specific works in apply- 
ing the completed work of Christ to human life. He 
has been awakening in men the sense of their need 
of Christ — convicting them of sin and righteousness 
and judgment to come. He has been imparting to 
men the nature of Christ, his one nature, human 
and divine — quickening those who were " dead in 
trespasses and in sins." He has been to them the 
consciousness of that new life in Christ — for he 
" beareth witness with our spirits that we are the 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY 245 

children of God." He has been empowering and 
guiding Christ's people in propagating the gospel 
and saving men — " ye shall receive power after that 
the Holy Spirit has come upon you and ye shall be 
witnesses." In employing the agency of the Holy 
Spirit and the holy disciple, Christ must work from 
up there. The Spirit has become Christ to the dis- 
ciple; the disciple has become Christ to the world. 

We are not surprised that, when his earthly work 
was finished and he was about to mount to the skies, 
his parting speech employed such large terms. He 
let them know that " all " power was in his hands ; 
that they must take his gospel to " all " people ; that 
" all " of them must do it ; that he would be with 
them " all " the days ; that they must teach the con- 
verts to observe " all " the things he commanded. 
Nor are we surprised that heaven was represented at 
that moment by special messengers, with a message 
of cheer and hope, nor are we surprised that the dis- 
ciples caught the meaning of it enough to return 
to the city and await the enduement of power, with 
a joy they had never known before. 

The line of battle was drawn ; the age-long war- 
fare for the salvation of men from sin had begun. 
The fight is on to-day. Every intellectual, ethical, 
social, domestic, esthetic, benevolent, religious ad- 
vance is his victory. By and by, according to his 
promise, he will return, as he went, in the clouds and 
with his angels, to complete and crown all his glori- 
ous achievements. 



EPILOGUE 

HISTORICAL FULFILMENT OF THE PARTING PROMISE. 

His last word was that he would be with his 
people all the days. Has that promise been fulfilled ? 
If so, we should be able to trace his presence in the 
history of his people from that day to this. Even 
so, we can, and the task is both easy and fasci- 
nating. Volumes have been written on that subject 
and the reader is advised to pursue it more exten- 
sively than is possible in this brief chapter. It is 
worth while to read Loring Brace's " Gesta 
Christi " ; Young's " The Christ of History " ; 
Storrs' " The Divine Origin of Christianity " ; N. 
D. Hillis' " Influence of Christ on Modern Life " ; 
Phillips Brooks' " Influence of Jesus." This chapter 
aims to be suggestive only. 

He was able to make good that promise in three 
ways. The Holy Spirit was the " other Comforter," 
the second Christ in whom Christ continued his 
presence. The two facts of vital importance, about 
the Spirit, are that, when he was parakleted, or 
called, to the side of the disciple to take Christ's 
place, he took up his position within the disciple and 
not without ; and he is not localized as was Christ, 
so that he is with every disciple equally. In another 
way Christ is present : the Christ-life is implanted in 

247 



248 EPILOGUE 

the disciple by the Holy Spirit. Thus is Christ born 
within him the hope of glory and every Christian 
says with Paul, " I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth 
in me." In another way, still : he is the head of the 
body of believers, so that where two or three are 
gathered together he is in the midst of them. 

He is with them in his essential office of prophet, 
priest, and king ; he is continuing his threefold work 
— saving, instructing, and ruling. By those signs 
we discover his presence and the degree and results 
of it. We shall look for those signs in the personal 
character of his disciples ; in their Christly relation- 
ships with each other and with all men; in the 
Christly quality and quantity of their achievements ; 
in the institutions that arise in the field of their ac- 
tivities. We find them growing more clear through 
the centuries, till now he is the unmistakable source 
of all that mankind holds dear. The Christian char- 
acter was a new product in the world, a phenomenon 
commented on by heathen writers and admired by 
all. Purity, righteousness, and altruism were its 
features. Plato had said that three things were 
necessary to masculine purity — love of a divine per- 
son ; desire for the respect of the good ; love of moral 
beauty. What Plato despaired of, Christ made pos- 
sible. Some of the vices then practised openly and 
with approval are now unknown, save in excep- 
tional instances that create abhorrence; those that 
are still practised expose their victims to general 
contempt. The purity of men and women to-day in 



EPILOGUE 249 

contrast with the men and women of the Roman 
world shows that Christ is with us. Virtues have 
been implanted and are now practised that were un- 
known then; some unrecognized virtues have been 
indorsed, rectified, and put in the list of conquerors, 
such as humility and meekness and patience. The 
passion for purity, righteousness, and self-sacrifice 
has been imparted and developed by Christ. 

In the relationships which his disciples establish 
we find Christ himself. In our homes the most strik- 
ing thing is the purity of woman and the rever- 
ence with which she is regarded by man. In Greece 
and Rome woman was a slave, and the most noble- 
born were often the most shameless in their vices. 
The old Roman code made man a despot. The 
Justinian code gives some protection to the wife. 
Little by little she has been put in the place she now 
occupies, because Christ is the Lord of her lord. 

In our homes, the tender treatment of children is 
Christ's achievement ! Rome gave the father power 
of life and death ; Christ gives the father a sense of 
his double relationship to his child : he represents 
God and he is the child's brother. 

In Christ's day mankind as such commanded no 
reverence and the sentiment of brotherhood was felt 
only between persons of the same race or class. 
The term humanity did not indicate a wide kinship, 
while now all the world is talking about the brother- 
hood of man. One of the characters in a play by 
Terence said, " I am a man and nothing that per- 



2 50 EPILOGUE 



tains to man is foreign to me," and the audience ap- 
plauded. But both Terence and the listeners meant 
by the term man only the Roman citizen and not 
the ignoble slave. The Emperor Trajan had twenty 
thousand slaves to fight at one time in the theater for 
the amusement of the Roman people, while to-day, 
with a pure love of humanity Christian nations are 
willing to pour out their best blood to liberate slaves, 
even though belonging to foreign and inferior races. 
The first enactment in the interest of slaves was by 
Constantine, servant of Christ, next by Justinian, 
and the final enactment will be freedom in every 
land. Justice in human relationships is an achieve- 
ment of Christ, as he is the new life within men, the 
new bond in their new brotherhood, and the new 
motive in a perpetual altruistic activity. 

We find Christ in what we usually call the secular 
results of human activity. Art has been the unfold- 
ing of his thought in the realm of beauty. In at least 
three ways is he in modern art: he has furnished 
subject-matter, enlarged and ennobled ideals, and 
supplied the mightiest motives. It is historically 
true that the entire art of modern music is the out- 
growth of the experiences of Christian men. It is 
Christ who has spoken to, and through, the great 
souls of the true masters. His influence over the 
sense of beauty and the creative imagination is the 
most marked fact in the history of art. The epitaph 
on Fra Angelico's tomb, written by himself, is true, 
in a degree, of all the great creative artists : " To me 



EPILOGUE 251 

be it no glory that I was as a second Apelles ; but that 
all my gains I laid at thy feet, O Jesu." Gothic 
architecture was a product of the distinctly Christian 
energy. The art of poetry has been born anew since 
Jesus came to earth. True, there was Homer speak- 
ing in lofty strains in praise of human love and 
cruelty ; there was Virgil speaking of " Pious 
iEneas." But we are indebted to Jesus for Job, 
which, according to Tennyson, is the sublimest poem 
ever written in any language at any time; for 
the poems of Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, 
Tennyson, Longfellow, Browning, Lowell, Lanier, 
Kipling, and the great songsters and teachers. 

And in the institutions which embody or secure 
the results of Christly activity, we find him. We 
must speak of the church first of all. Sometimes hu- 
man frailties and even vices have been organized into 
Christianity, but in all ages there have been men and 
women banded together, under the rule of Christ, 
who have radiated in their corporate and individual 
life the glories of their invisible Head. 

We must also speak of all our benevolent institu- 
tions. The earliest arrangements for the humane 
care of the dependent, defective, and delinquent 
classes were made by those who were mastered by 
Christ. Homes for orphans, widows, paupers and 
aged, asylums for the insane, schools for the feeble- 
minded, all have grown from the heart of Christ as 
it has throbbed and ached and struggled and re- 
joiced in the heart of humanity. And educational 



252 EPILOGUE 

institutions owe their life to him, as well as the rhe- 
torical, scientific, philosophical, and artistic learn- 
ing they conserve and disseminate. To find our- 
selves brought into terms of love and fellowship with 
Him who is truth itself is to be inspired with a 
quenchless thirst for knowledge. The disciple, thus 
given a new outlook upon Christ's works in nature 
and upon mankind and God, becomes a learner and 
a teacher. Moses was the first man in the history of 
mankind to start anything like a public-school sys- 
tem, and it was nearly a thousand years before 
Pericles and the classic period of Greek literature. 
Professor Ramsay, of Aberdeen, claims that " if the 
Jews were far behind the Greeks in some of the 
paths of intellectual and artistic attainment, they 
were far beyond them in the even more important 
paths of moral progress and of national education." 
He says truly that " the Jew stood both morally and 
intellectually on a far higher level than the Gentile." 
With the narrow, shallow, lifeless education which 
Greece furnished her citizens and with the method 
by which Rome sought to reduce the masses of her 
people to stupidity, does the Hebrew method com- 
pare, as the only " real, salutary, invigorating sys- 
tem of national education." Professor Ramsay, in 
speaking of the educational advantages of Jesus, 
says that " the Hebrew nation was, at that time, the 
most highly educated people in the world — in the 
true meaning of the word education." 

A proverb said " a town in which there is no 



EPILOGUE 253 



school must perish." And Christ was Moses' master 
and the very heart of the nation's life, the source 
of its history and its development, even before the 
days of his incarnation. The highest intellectual 
life to-day is found in those in whom he most com- 
pletely manifests himself. There is not a school in 
our lands to-day but owes its origin to Christ, and 
even Girard College is not an exception, for the very 
sentiment that led to the founding of that school was 
the result of the unconscious absorption of Chris- 
tian principles. It is not an accident that when one 
becomes acquainted with the Author of all truth he 
wants to know all truth and communicate all he 
learns. 

Take away all that marks the presence of Christ 
with humanity to-day and we give up manly purity 
and womanly modesty, regard for manhood and 
reverence for womanhood, we reduce marital and 
paternal relationship to unrestrained despotism, and 
exchange human brotherhood for race and class 
hatred. Take away what is due to the presence of 
Christ among us and we tear down our churches, 
our institutions of benevolence, and our schools of 
learning, from the small academy to the great uni- 
versity into which Christly benevolence has poured 
its millions ; we hush the holy strains of music, dis- 
mantle the walls of their masterpieces, and take all 
our treasures of literature from table and shelf. 

It is possible to know much concerning Christ and 
not know him at all ; to enjoy many of the fruits of 



254 EPILOGUE 

his life in the world without having the roots of his 
life in our souls ; to possess many of the blessings 
which he brings without possessing him who brings 
them; to be a consumer of good but not a pro- 
ducer; to be a receiver of heaven's gifts but not a 
distributor. It is the hope of the writer that, as the 
story of Christ's life on earth grows more familiar 
and the evidences of his continued presence more 
clear, we may find it increasingly easy and happy to 
live the Christian life and distribute its blessings 
far and wide. 




JUL 



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